Jack,
>What is cool to me, is that the whole thing could be done soon. Much of the
technology is off-the-shelf.
I believe you are basically correct. However, the guys & gals
calling the shots, so to speak, at NASA and JPL do not have any
serious Europa probes on the drawing boards, and nothing scheduled
until past 2030 or so (i.e., not scheduled). My insider information
is a bit dated on this, about 2 years old now, so I hope some minds
have changed since then. The only glimmer of true post-Gallileo
discovery effort I know of is a very conservative Europa orbiter
package (radar-penetrating ice probe only--just to verify an ocean,
hopefully) that is tentatively scheduled for a 2008 launch, with an
ETA of 2011. My sources at the time told me that even that package
could get scrubbed. JPL/NASA is almost totally focused on Mars.
One of my heros, Fraser Fanale of UH (and formerly of JPL) told me
awhile back that NASA is like a big dinosaur. You have to keep
stomping on its tail until you get its attention. Then you can run!
>Though I am fond of green living things, I'd just rather find talking
>dragons than teeny plants.
I agree, but we must not show our prejudice against single celled
organisms. They're family too.
Gary
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