$75mil for Europa Mission/Research

I'm surprised I haven't seen a thread on here about the recent Bill President Obama signed for $75 million toward either a mission or research specifically for Europa.

For those who don't know, Europa potentially has complex life swimming in the dark ocean underneath it's icy surface.

Thoughts?

europa.seti.org

Nasa.gov on the Budget

Most recent Nasa news on Europa

What a waste of money. Nothing there, surprise surprise.

When are we going to fix THIS planet?

reply to post by DaTroof


I really don't appreciate you trolling like that...and Europa is a moon not a planet.

Obvious troll is obvious troll...

Please, anyone out there with a serious response? I find this news very exciting and intriguing!

reply to post by game over man


$75mil seems way too little for a mission like this. It sounds like it's just for getting this started. I would imagine the actual mission would cost a lot more. Either way, a mission dedicated to Europa would be great.

I can't really say much else, as there doesn't seem to be much information, like if it's going to be an orbiter or a lander/rover. Good news either way.

Originally posted by DaTroof
What a waste of money. Nothing there, surprise surprise.

When are we going to fix THIS planet?

A typical ignorant response

reply to post by game over man


Cool Europa is a very interesting place We might be very suprised.

75 Million !!
Wow that sounds like quite a bargin.

Sounds a little cheap in-fact.

The last Mega Millions winner could pay for that with a couple months of intrest, or pay for it out-right and
still have 100 million to live off of it.


Aw jra you beat me to it

reply to post by game over man


I for one am glad to here there will be a mission. 75 mil ain't nothing in the space game yet hopefully something useful will come out of it. I was there for Apollo and remember all the complaining about the cost and how with all that money we could feed the poor and helpless. So we cancelled the moon projects and flights. All we did was increase the number of people wanting handouts and thinking the government would take care of them. Something like give a man a fish and he will want another one; teach him to fish and he can supply his own darn fish.

I wish we did have the money or desire to do a proper survey and exploration Europa to include getting a camera in the ocean that is supposed to be there. S&F

So ground breaking science 75 mill.

f35 jet that has yet to see combat 200 mill per plane...


Is it me or our priorities F!@#ed in this country...

I'm fascinated by Europa, and hope we will get to exploring it soon. But $75 million is pocket money in space exploration. If NASA were getting the kind of budget Department of Defence gets, we'd have landed on Mars by now.

I thought America had already funded quite a few missions to Europa, and send "ambassadors" over all the time to partake of the wine, olive oil, and fine museums. They even seem to have a few bases in the German portion of Europa. Waste of money when all they need is a plane ticket.

As for the moon, didn't Arthur Clarke handle this one with a warning to keep away from Europa? ("All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there." - for his book "2010"). And no wonder, with all those cracks on the surface we'll liable to trip over something.

Originally posted by DaTroof
What a waste of money. Nothing there, surprise surprise.

When are we going to fix THIS planet?

Just as soon as the trillion-odd annual dollars gets rediverted from bombing poor people to fixing this planet.

I wish I could say you thought of this too, pity your type don't think that way though.

Space exploration is the ONLY future this planet has. If we don't start getting out into the solar system NOW, it may be too late.

reply to post by jra


Beat me to it, i was going to say the same thing. I am no expert (just interested) in space but surely $75 million will only get about a third of a booster rocket?

If I were to guess, I'd say that the 75 million is only for researching the mission and not carrying it out. (That is what the title is, no?)

Big difference between the two. I would also say the actual cost of the mission would be closer to tens - hundreds of billions to get there and do the search.

75million to use for mission to Europa? Well, 75 mil isn't enough but at least it's a start in the right direction. The seed that was planted a long time ago for deep Space exploration has finally been watered for deep Space missions and exploration. I think there's already a Colony on the Dark Side of the Moon, but that's another topic. I'd say that in the next 20-30 years things will be totally different. The only problem is, with current world events, will any of us "common folk" be around to see these major changes come to fruition?

Habitable Moons, Space Colonies, Interstellar travel, humanoid Robots, Flying Cars, Superhumans, etc. It's all coming to pass, it seems. What's held Mankind back up to this point is money, power, and greed. Now it seems that Money, power, and greed will push humanity into the next level. What has changed in the world to allow this transition,besides technological advancements, whereas it didn't allow this transition before.

Thanks for this information!

Originally posted by Aleister

As for the moon, didn't Arthur Clarke handle this one with a warning to keep away from Europa? ("All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there." - for his book "2010"). And no wonder, with all those cracks on the surface we'll liable to trip over something.

True but in my opinion Clarke wasn't so much prohibiting exploration of Europa instead he was attempting to underscore the importance of protecting any alien societies that we might one day discover in that in the book this was the real reason for the warning

Originally posted by iforget

Originally posted by Aleister

As for the moon, didn't Arthur Clarke handle this one with a warning to keep away from Europa? ("All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there." - for his book "2010"). And no wonder, with all those cracks on the surface we'll liable to trip over something.

True but in my opinion Clarke wasn't so much prohibiting exploration of Europa instead he was attempting to underscore the importance of protecting any alien societies that we might one day discover in that in the book this was the real reason for the warning

edit on 4/11/2013 by iforget because: (no reason given)

Yes, and in the book the purpose of the monolith was to protect Europa. Personally, I wish the earth's governments would get together and launch about a hundred rover missions all over the solar system, with about five destined for Europa.