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Looks like NASA may be dragged into it kicking and screaming. It may be time to change some people at the top. There's no point having this kind of a mission if

by iwwr 13y ago

Looks like NASA may be dragged into it kicking and screaming. It may be time to change some people at the top. There's no point having this kind of a mission if leadership doesn't believe in it.

dandrews 13y ago
Bolden is certainly not the man for the job. See: [1] http://www.examiner.com/article/nasa-s-bolden-no-american-led-return-to-the-moon-my-lifetime http://www.examiner.com/article/nasa-s-bolden-no-american-le... [2] http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2012-08-01/NASA-mars-rover/56656270/1 http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2012...
thearn4 13y ago
I know personally that Europa is actually pretty high on Charlie Bolden's (and other NASA HQ folk's) as well as academia's radar, but has thus far lost out to other programmatic/political necessities. NASA has a very hard time devoting resources to planetary science and exploration programs when key legislators continue to earmark NASA'S budget for (what are essentially) jobs programs in their own districts. SLS has shaped up to be a perfect example of that.
- XorNot 13y ago
  Well, the other problem is Europa is not an easy mission by any stretch. It's airless - so wave goodbye to parachute landings, which means we need to carry all the propulsion we need to decelerate into orbit with us. No magnetic field either, so tethers for orbital adjustment are out to. And it's flying out to one of the more radiation hard environments in the solar system, where we have very little data on what exactly it'll experience. And it's going to be a long long way a way. 1 hour signal round-trip time.
  - TeMPOraL 13y ago
    Think of all the new technologies and solutions that will have to be developed for it, and then will find their way to commercial sector. NASA at it's best!
codyb 13y ago
I don't know. I feel hard pressed to believe the wonderful folks at NASA wouldn't be ecstatic to develop a probe to explore an ice covered moon of Jupiter. Curiosity was a huge hit with the public, and although I'm not totally sure of this, I'm of the belief that it was a great success for NASA in a variety of ways. I'm sure they'd be more than excited to have the funding for another probe. And I admit, this is an extremely naive viewpoint with little more than my own excitement for such a mission (however shallow) and my intuitions about the nature of the scientists who work at NASA. I could be totally wrong.

by iwwr 13y ago

Looks like NASA may be dragged into it kicking and screaming. It may be time to change some people at the top. There's no point having this kind of a mission if leadership doesn't believe in it.

dandrews 13y ago

Bolden is certainly not the man for the job. See: [1] http://www.examiner.com/article/nasa-s-bolden-no-american-led-return-to-the-moon-my-lifetime http://www.examiner.com/article/nasa-s-bolden-no-american-le... [2] http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2012-08-01/NASA-mars-rover/56656270/1 http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2012...

thearn4 13y ago

I know personally that Europa is actually pretty high on Charlie Bolden's (and other NASA HQ folk's) as well as academia's radar, but has thus far lost out to other programmatic/political necessities. NASA has a very hard time devoting resources to planetary science and exploration programs when key legislators continue to earmark NASA'S budget for (what are essentially) jobs programs in their own districts. SLS has shaped up to be a perfect example of that.

XorNot 13y ago
Well, the other problem is Europa is not an easy mission by any stretch. It's airless - so wave goodbye to parachute landings, which means we need to carry all the propulsion we need to decelerate into orbit with us. No magnetic field either, so tethers for orbital adjustment are out to. And it's flying out to one of the more radiation hard environments in the solar system, where we have very little data on what exactly it'll experience. And it's going to be a long long way a way. 1 hour signal round-trip time.
- TeMPOraL 13y ago
  Think of all the new technologies and solutions that will have to be developed for it, and then will find their way to commercial sector. NASA at it's best!

codyb 13y ago

I don't know. I feel hard pressed to believe the wonderful folks at NASA wouldn't be ecstatic to develop a probe to explore an ice covered moon of Jupiter. Curiosity was a huge hit with the public, and although I'm not totally sure of this, I'm of the belief that it was a great success for NASA in a variety of ways. I'm sure they'd be more than excited to have the funding for another probe. And I admit, this is an extremely naive viewpoint with little more than my own excitement for such a mission (however shallow) and my intuitions about the nature of the scientists who work at NASA. I could be totally wrong.