NASA scientists stunned by new discovery on [Jupiter's moon] Europa

[Hamartia Antidote]

http://www.babwnews.com/2016/05/nasa-scientists-stunned-by-new-discovery-on-europa/

Researchers say they're closer to learning the truth about the potential for life on Jupiter's moon than ever before.

Scientists believe Jupiter’s moon Europa could be the best bet for finding extraterrestrial life within the solar system, and a recent study brings us one step closer to finding out for sure. According to a report from Discovery News, researchers from NASA have discovered enough oxygen and nutrients in the moon’s water to theoretically support multi-cellular life.

The study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, reveals that the chemical composition of the subsurface ocean on Europa may be suitable to more complex forms of life than scientists initially imagined. The research reveals how the makeup of the subsurface sea has evolved over time, generating key components necessary for the development of life.

According to planetary scientists Steve Vance of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA, “We’re studying an alien ocean using methods developed to understand the movement of energy and nutrients in Earth’s own systems. The cycling of oxygen and hydrogen in Europa’s ocean will be a major driver for Europa’s ocean chemistry and any life there, just as it is on Earth.”

Europa’s subsurface ocean is protected by a massive layer of ice, so collecting samples is particularly challenging. Scientists believe that the moon has a rocky core with deep cracks that have filled up with liquid water over time. Furthermore, the moon is thought lack volcanic activity, leading scientists to believe that cracks continue to develop, allowing more opportunities for water to drive geophysical processes that generate ingredients necessary for life.

For life to exist on Europa, there would need to be an oxidizing agent to react with the hydrogen produced by the water’s contact with the moon’s subsurface rocks. The study hypothesizes that as radiation from the sun breaks down the icy shield above the subsurface sea, oxidants are released into the water below.

“The oxidants from the ice are like the positive terminal of a battery, and the chemicals from the seafloor, called reductants, are like the negative terminal,” said Kevin Hand, a JPL researcher. “Whether or not life and biological processes complete the circuit is part of what motivates our exploration of Europa.”

A press release from NASA describing the details of the study can be found here.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016...illion-for-two-life-tracking-europa-missions/

House tells NASA to stop messing around, start planning two Europa missions
Provide a realistic funding profile next time, Congress tells the White House.

Planetary scientists have identified Jupiter's icy moon of Europa as one of their top targets for exploration, believing that its warm interior oceans may well harbor life. A new study published just this week, authored by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, found that conditions in the oceans on Europa may indeed be Earth-like and capable of harboring life.

Despite the wishes of the planetary science community to further investigate Europa, NASA has been wary of mounting such a mission because of the high cost—well above $1 billion. Additionally, planetary science hasn't been a priority in President Obama's NASA budgets, and the space agency has preferred to focus most of its robotic solar system exploration on Mars. The red planet is easier to reach, and NASA says it wants to explore Mars further to enable future human missions.

Congress has been more interested in planetary science, however. And in particular, the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over NASA's budget, John Culberson (R-Texas), has fancied Europa. Even when NASA wasn't asking for Europa funds, the congressman was funneling money to the scientists at the California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Between the 2013 and 2016 fiscal years, NASA requested just $45 million in Europa funding, but Congress appropriated $395 million. For fiscal year 2017, NASA requested $49.6 million in Europa funding, but a House appropriations bill released this week by Culberson's committee proposes $260 million for mission planning and development.
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As part of the mission to Europa, Culberson would also like to send a lander to the surface of the heaving, ice-encrusted world. This would allow scientists to better characterize the oceans below and, if the lander touches down near a fissure, possibly even sample the ocean. However, there has been some concern that having both an orbital spacecraft and a lander in a single mission would prove too challenging for a single rocket to deliver.

So as part of the new House bill, the Europa mission is broken into two parts: an orbiter and, two years later, a lander. The plan would be for the orbiter spacecraft to swoop down into the harsh radiation environment near Europa (because of the moon's proximity to Jupiter) and out again to relay data back to Earth. The nominal mission would perform at least 45 flybys of Europa at altitudes varying from 2,700km all the way down to 25km above the surface. By assessing this data, scientists on Earth could determine where best to set their lander down on the surface two years later.

"We have increased funding for planetary programs and made sure we are going to complete the incredibly important mission to Europa that the planetary decadal survey mapped out because of the very high likelihood that life will be discovered in those oceans," Culberson said during a hearing Tuesday. "This will be a transformative moment in the history of humanity and the country."

In its documents about the Europa mission, NASA has not formally approved a lander, and it says only that the flyby mission will launch "sometime in the 2020s." The House bill is much more specific, calling for an orbiter launch no later than 2022 and a lander launch no later than 2024. Senior officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have told Culberson that those dates are attainable. Additionally, the bill specifies that NASA's next budget, for fiscal year 2018, includes a five-year funding profile to support those two launches.

NASA last visited the Jupiter system in the 1990s and early 2000s with the Galileo spacecraft. Galileo snapped images of Europa during 11 flybys, but the best of those pictures had a resolution of only about 10 meters per pixel. The spacecraft stored those images on a tape recorder with a capacity of 114 megabytes, but a flawed rewind mode hampered even that modest device. Yet this limited data was enough to tantalize scientists, and Europa has been a target of high interest for planetary scientists ever since.

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http://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-just-found-even-more-evidence-that-europa-could-host-alien-life

hmmm....reminds me of some movie....

 

[Sky lord]

Thank you senator John Culberson.

NASA asked for $45million and you kindly approved $395 million.

If only all donors were as generous.