14 DAY TRIAL // NASA’s plans for the next couple of decades are becoming bolder. One mission that stands out, next to sending people on Mars and an asteroid, is investigating Europa.
Europa, Jupiter’s ice-covered moon, has long since been considered one of the planets that could be habitable for man, The Register reports.
NASA has commissioned a team of scientists to consider the objectives for a landed spacecraft mission on Jupiter’s moon. They would analyze the ice covering Europa to determine the composition of salts and organic materials.
Also on NASA’s to-do list would be the geophysical mapping of Europa to probe its ice shell and ocean through seismology and magnetometry.
Understanding all these details would help NASA better prepare a future Europa lander and the technologies required to get us there.