Juice Launched on Mission to Jupiter's Icy Moons

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Juice is on its way. The Ariane 5 launch vehicle performed perfectly and now we wait for the signal to confirm that the spacecraft is alive and well.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Waspie_Dwarf
Corrected typo in title.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

 

[Jon the frog]

Nice Ariane 5 launch ! They don't have a lot of pub for over 116 launches.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

2 minutes ago, Jon the frog said:

Nice Ariane 5 launch ! They don't have a lot of pub for over 116 launches.

Just one more launch to go before it retires.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

 

 

[Bavarian Raven]

If it was up to me, I’d be putting most of our space exploration resources into landing a drilling craft on Europa or one of the other icy moons “asap”. It’s the only way to def prove what’s under the ice. One way or another. I just hope I’m alive to see it happen. 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

9 hours ago, Bavarian Raven said:

If it was up to me, I’d be putting most of our space exploration resources into landing a drilling craft on Europa or one of the other icy moons “asap”. It’s the only way to def prove what’s under the ice. One way or another. I just hope I’m alive to see it happen. 

It will be a while back before we have the capability to drill through to Europa's ocean. The ice crust is several kilometres thick, maybe several tens of kilometres, source: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020EPSC...14..173H/abstract

We are going to need missions to determine the thickness of that ice and where (if anywhere) it is safe to land a probe before a drilling mission can even be contemplated. 

[Bavarian Raven]

4 minutes ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

It will be a while back before we have the capability to drill through to Europa's ocean. The ice crust is several kilometres thick, maybe several tens of kilometres, source: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020EPSC...14..173H/abstract

We are going to need missions to determine the thickness of that ice and where (if anywhere) it is safe to land a probe before a drilling mission can even be contemplated. 

True. Though i remember reading reports about weak spots in the ice where water is suspected to "erupt" to the surface periodically. Might be much thinner there. Hence we need to get on this.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Waspie_Dwarf
Corrected link in quote

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Just now, Bavarian Raven said:

True. Though i remember reading reports about weak spots in the ice where water is suspected to "erupt" to the surface periodically. Might be much thinner there. Hence we need to get on this.

Thinner yes, but the Earth's crust is also thinner at certain points... but that doesn't make volcanos safe places to drill. 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

 

 

[Nicolette]

Seems like it would be so much easier to melt a path through than drill considering how hard they said the ice is.

[Abramelin]

30 minutes ago, Nicolette said:

Seems like it would be so much easier to melt a path through than drill considering how hard they said the ice is.

I once read that what you suggested would be an option. But the vehicle would have to be nuclear powered to create a melt through the ice. However, ìf life exists in the sea below, that wouldn't be a good thing.