Exploratour: NASA's Exploration for Life

An image of Jupiter's moon Europa
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of NASA

Here's what NASA hopes to do with the new Europa mission. Category 1A objectives are the minimum set of science investigations that would support an exploration mission. These objectives are determined by the international science community in the early planning stages of a mission. The Europa Orbiter Science Definition Team was formed in 1998 to select Category 1A objectives. They are:
  • Determine if there is or is not an ocean.
  • Figure out where the water is to be found, if any.
  • Understand the formation of surface features, including sites of recent or current activity.
  • Identify candidate landing sites for future lander missions.
But this will be hard. Scientists and Engineers are even now thinking about how best to accomplish these objectives. Take a moment and think it through as it is presented on the next page.

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