some tidbits on the May 2006 OPAG meeting: Europa

source: Emily's reports on the OPAG meeting
here and here

First up, the on again, off again Europa Orbiter mission. This mission has been talked about for years. Back in the 1990s, it was part of the "Fire and Ice" missions which included a Solar Probe and what eventually morphed into New Horizons. More recently, it was part of JIMO (Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter). But none of those Europa missions got off the ground. I'm glad to hear that Europa is still the consensus priority target in this day where Titan and Enceladus are looking more and more interesting. Maybe we'll finally get an Europa Orbiter this time.

The JPL EGE (Europa Geophysical Explorer) was talked about at this OPAG meeting. It'll use existing technology and is planned to be launched on a Delta IV Heavy. The Delta IV Heavy, if you haven't seen it before, is a sight to behold. It's bigger and more powerful than the Atlas V that launched New Horizons to Pluto this past January. Even with that monster of a launch vehicle, the EGE still needs a VEGA (Venus-Earth gravity assist) trajectory to get to Jupiter and Europa. It's really not easy to do outer planets missions. A good news that came out of this presentation is that they now seem to have a better handle of the problem regarding unstable orbits around Europa, so they can stay in Europa orbit longer.

The ESA (European Space Agency) is also looking at going to Europa. What's different about their plan is that there are 2 orbiters: an Europa orbiter and a Jupiter orbiter that works as a relay. They are looking at using SEP (solar electric propulsion) or the usual chemical thrusters. Very interesting indeed.

There are still other OPAG tidbits to post about, but they'll have to wait for another time. Even though it rained all the way home tonight, the lightning show along with Don Henley and Def Leppard on the radio made it an enjoyable drive home.

Some links on Europa:
Europa
Icepick: the Europa Ocean Explorer