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Europa sounds like a valid and important target for a lander. Just imagine if evidence of life is detected; it would drastically change our perception of our ro

Europa sounds like a valid and important target for a lander. Just imagine if evidence of life is detected; it would drastically change our perception of our role in the universe. Suddenly we're not the only game in town. Religionists would have to adapt, conspiracists would spin their theories, and money for new expeditions would magically appear. The question in my mind is, why is this initiative coming from the Congress rather than from the President or from NASA itself? What's happened to our national sense of adventure and exploration? I remember the space fever of the 1960s and 1970s, and how it faded in the late 70s into a dull pride that we'd built a space bus, albeit a very expensive and compromised design that could take a team to low orbit and not much farther. I guess we should celebrate the fact that someone with the power to fund new missions into deep space is making it happen, for whatever reason. But I'd like it better if Nasa were getting the kind of funding it really needs and the bold leadership it deserves to accelerate these sorts of spectacular missions that will advance our technologies and inspire more young people to go into the sciences.

ekianjo 10y ago
Life outside Earth is not a binary question. Its a matter of probabilities, and with the vastness of the cosmos it would actually be very surprising if life did not exist anywhere else at all. But inside the solar system, its a different matter altogether. If we find life on Europa then it increases the chance that life is in many more places than we thought.
- smcnally 10y ago
  To your point, Kepler's recent announcement suggests the probability of tens of billions of Earth-like planets "just" in the Milky Way. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/kepler/briefingmaterials160510 http://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/kepler/briefingmaterials160...
riffraff 10y ago
> Religionists would have to adapt I doubt this, many "moderate" religions cope with multiple intelligent beings just fine, i.e. the catholic church has expressed itself on the matter, Islam has always posited other intelligent beings (jinns for example) and some muslim scholars consider extraterrestrial life to be compatible with islam. Same for hudaism. As for buddhism andi hinduism, I don't see why they would be incompatible with alien life. Sadly, people with a literal-minded view of religion might have problems with that, but then, they already have problems with evolution and round earth.
mahranch 10y ago
> The question in my mind is, why is this initiative coming from the Congress rather than from the President or from NASA itself? Because both the president and NASA's power pales in comparison to congress. Congress is responsible for budgets, they're the ones that approve/disprove/modify any bill or budget on the table. If they don't like a particular direction a government organization is going, they say "Hey, do this" and that organization does it. They do it because congress is their financier. Organizations like NASA have to justify their budgets and layout their plans and short/long term goals before any money is approved. Congress can and will say "We don't like those goals. Make these your goals instead" and replace them entirely. A more sobering view of the situation, however, is that a congressman (or congressmen) probably has some big lobbyist lobbying for this because while NASA heads up the mission, NASA still relies on cooperation with private businesses to make parts, widgets, contract work, etc... These private entities and local municipalities would benefit from a huge NASA mission financially. Unfortunately, the senator who lobbied hard for this (John Culberson, R-Texas) almost certainly didn't do it for altruistic reasons. Someone somewhere is going to financially benefit in a big way. Edit: As another commentor pointed out (and was downmodded for doing so, a bit boggling), John Culberson receives lobby money from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Orbital ATK and Northrop Grumman. So there you have it... Don't get me wrong, I'm pro-space and pro-Europa trip. Just giving the lay of the land and answering your question.
jcfrei 10y ago
Just imagine if evidence of life is detected; it would drastically change our perception of our role in the universe. Isn't it a well established fact that life outside of earth is possible? And in fact very likely given the size of the universe? That being said, I think it would be surprising to find another source of life within the same solar system. It would mean life is much more common than we originally thought.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
greglindahl 10y ago
This initiative came out of the Planetary Science Decadal Survey, and then got plus-upped by Congress.

ekianjo 10y ago

Life outside Earth is not a binary question. Its a matter of probabilities, and with the vastness of the cosmos it would actually be very surprising if life did not exist anywhere else at all. But inside the solar system, its a different matter altogether. If we find life on Europa then it increases the chance that life is in many more places than we thought.

smcnally 10y ago
To your point, Kepler's recent announcement suggests the probability of tens of billions of Earth-like planets "just" in the Milky Way. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/kepler/briefingmaterials160510 http://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/kepler/briefingmaterials160...

riffraff 10y ago

> Religionists would have to adapt I doubt this, many "moderate" religions cope with multiple intelligent beings just fine, i.e. the catholic church has expressed itself on the matter, Islam has always posited other intelligent beings (jinns for example) and some muslim scholars consider extraterrestrial life to be compatible with islam. Same for hudaism. As for buddhism andi hinduism, I don't see why they would be incompatible with alien life. Sadly, people with a literal-minded view of religion might have problems with that, but then, they already have problems with evolution and round earth.

mahranch 10y ago

> The question in my mind is, why is this initiative coming from the Congress rather than from the President or from NASA itself? Because both the president and NASA's power pales in comparison to congress. Congress is responsible for budgets, they're the ones that approve/disprove/modify any bill or budget on the table. If they don't like a particular direction a government organization is going, they say "Hey, do this" and that organization does it. They do it because congress is their financier. Organizations like NASA have to justify their budgets and layout their plans and short/long term goals before any money is approved. Congress can and will say "We don't like those goals. Make these your goals instead" and replace them entirely. A more sobering view of the situation, however, is that a congressman (or congressmen) probably has some big lobbyist lobbying for this because while NASA heads up the mission, NASA still relies on cooperation with private businesses to make parts, widgets, contract work, etc... These private entities and local municipalities would benefit from a huge NASA mission financially. Unfortunately, the senator who lobbied hard for this (John Culberson, R-Texas) almost certainly didn't do it for altruistic reasons. Someone somewhere is going to financially benefit in a big way. Edit: As another commentor pointed out (and was downmodded for doing so, a bit boggling), John Culberson receives lobby money from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Orbital ATK and Northrop Grumman. So there you have it... Don't get me wrong, I'm pro-space and pro-Europa trip. Just giving the lay of the land and answering your question.

jcfrei 10y ago

Just imagine if evidence of life is detected; it would drastically change our perception of our role in the universe. Isn't it a well established fact that life outside of earth is possible? And in fact very likely given the size of the universe? That being said, I think it would be surprising to find another source of life within the same solar system. It would mean life is much more common than we originally thought.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

greglindahl 10y ago

This initiative came out of the Planetary Science Decadal Survey, and then got plus-upped by Congress.