> Scientists envision sending a huge, 300-foot-long, > nuclear-powered craft -- called JIMO, for Jupiter > Icy Moons Orbiter -- on a voyage to the Jovian > neighborhood to spend up to five years circling the > ice-encrusted moon called Europa, plus two others, > Callisto and Ganymede, which also are covered with > ice but are less likely to have inhabitable oceans.
This is big news! > Europa, like all Jupiter's moons, is subject to > great tidal forces from its huge parent planet. Its > crust bulges and subsides nearly 100 feet every 1. 8 > Earth days as it orbits Jupiter. I've heard 30 feet, and only IF there is indeed an ocean underneath. Which is correct? > Chemical-sensing instruments mounted on the > spacecraft could identify organic chemicals on or > just beneath Europa's surface, McKay said. However, > those organic chemicals would have been so badly > degraded by Jupiter's intense radiation that it > would be impossible to tell if they came from > anything alive. [...] > "Wouldn't it be fascinating to discover life on > Europa that's based on amino acids and proteins > entirely different than the stuff we know on Earth?" > he said with a grin. Sensors aboard the spacecraft > might not be able to detect such life at all, but an > instrument landed directly on the ice could surely > do the job. These paragraphs seem to contradict each other. Could we detect these life-suggesting amino acids from the surface, or not? > With its heavy load of instruments, the spacecraft > would have to be at least 300 feet long. This HAS to be a misprint. A craft the length of a football field? Maybe once we build that space elevator. The whole Saturn V rocket was only 410 feet tall. Maybe they're talking about some expandable sections? Surely they're not talking about assembling it in orbit. This Yahoo story claims it would be 80 to 100 feet long. Still a hefty brute. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031209/ap_on_sc/icy_moons_2 --Mark __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
