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a very old topic, maybe worth bumping
Mission to Europa
https://jeffjacksonnc.substack.com/p/mission-to-europa
Excellence vs. outrage
If all goes well, it will blast off on top of SpaceX’s biggest rocket this October.
Then it will travel 1.8 billion miles at a speed of 25,000 mph for about five years to reach Europa.
Once it arrives, it will spend several years doing close passes - but not landing. (That’s the next mission, and it’s also legally required.)
We’re going to learn a lot about what’s under the ice, but we’re also going to look for some deep cracks in the ice that would serve as good landing spots for the next mission. That way, drilling through the ice - and sending a swimming probe into the ocean depths - will be easier when we return.
BUT there’s another great feature of Europa: We think it ejects some of its water into space in vast, frozen plumes. That means the probe might be able to fly through the plumes, collect the frozen water, and analyze it - giving us a sense of the composition of the water without having to land, drill, and swim.
Obviously I have no idea what we’ll find. Nothing is certain.
But I am certain that this kind of project represents some of the best qualities of humanity, and our country.
It’s extraordinary that we’re capable of this, that we’ve built teams of people who are dedicating their lives to it, and that they’ve overcome countless setbacks in pursuit of such a momentous goal. I’m grateful to live in a country that’s capable of tackling this kind of challenge.
I get why that doesn’t make for great TV these days. It’s the opposite of outrage - it’s excellence, and excellence isn’t as addictive as outrage.
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