Europe selects Jupiter mission

[Still Waters]

A proposal to study Jupiter's icy moons is now the front runner for selection as a billion-euro space mission.

However, formal selection of the mission will have to wait until a European space committee meets to discuss the contenders in May.

The Juice mission would launch in 2022 and would help assess whether Jupiter's moons could support life.

It has been up against two other concepts in the European Space Agency's (Esa) Cosmic Vision competition.

Read more...

[Waspie_Dwarf]

The European Space Agency (Esa) is to mount a billion-euro mission to Jupiter and its icy moons.

The probe, called Juice, has just been approved at a meeting of member state delegations in Paris.

It would be built in time for a launch in 2022, although it would be a further eight years before it reached the Jovian system.

The mission has emerged from a five-year-long competition to find the next "large class" space venture in Europe.

Read more...

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

An almost bankrupt EU can spend a billion dollars shooting rockets at Jupiter.

[Him over there]

If the EU finds life on one of the moons of Jupiter they will want to offer it membership of the EU and we will then have the aliens at our borders, in our hospitals, claiming benefits and child allowance on broods of hundreds of offspring.

[skookum]

Makes a change to spend the money on something other than Greece I suppose.

[TheMolePatrol]

So what if EU's broke, at least they are still willing to spend money they don't have on peaceful things rather than war like the US does. It's a miracle we even have NASA still after 9/11 how they funneled money into security and war.

[questionmark]

An almost bankrupt EU can spend a billion dollars shooting rockets at Jupiter.

The EU is not broke, 5 of 27 countries are...which is not quite the same. ESA was financed in its majority by the Germans anyway... and they are doing quite well...

[Waspie_Dwarf]

An almost bankrupt EU can spend a billion dollars shooting rockets at Jupiter.

If the EU finds life on one of the moons of Jupiter they will want to offer it membership of the EU

Makes a change to spend the money on something other than Greece I suppose.

So what if EU's broke

Before this discussion goes even further off topic (it is, after all, a thread on the exploration of Jupiter, not European economics) there is something you probably should know:

This is NOT a European Union mission. It IS a European Space Agency mission.

Apart from both being European based organisations and sharing some of the same members these two organisations are not connected.

Of the 27 EU member states only 17 are members of ESA. Further more Norway and Switzerland are ESA members but are not in the EU.

ESA was financed in its majority by the Germans anyway... and they are doing quite well...

Actually Germany contributes only 17.9% of ESAs budget. France is the largest contributer with 18.8%.

Right, now we've cleared that up, naybe we can discuss this mission and the exploration of Jupiter and its moons.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Waspie_Dwarf
typo

[DONTEATUS]

Agree any attempt to fly a mission to Jupiters moons is a wise investment . No matter whom spearheads it. I would think that its actually one of our best chances to find life. Im ready to go !

[pallidin]

I'm all for science and exploration, but given our global circumstances shouldn't we be focusing on LIFE on EARTH ?

[stevewinn]

about time we went to jupiter and am pleased ESA are taking a lead role.

[questionmark]

I'm all for science and exploration, but given our global circumstances shouldn't we be focusing on LIFE on EARTH ?

We should do our best to find a substitute, as we are taking this place apart fast!