Perhaps most of us will never be a PI on one of NASA's Discovery, New Frontiers
or Flagship missions. However, let's not have that stop us, the UMSF community
from suggesting, and describing, mission concepts that have been rattling around
in our brains for some time. I'll start the ball rolling.

My fantasy mission (Discovery or NF class?) would be the Jupiter Flyer 1. This
would be an unmanned airplane, named after the Wrights' first airplane, that
would fly through the atmosphere of Jupiter. Its exterior would be covered
with cameras, showing views in all directions as it glided through the atmosphere
looking for thermals.

I know that most talk of Jupiter probes concerns deep atmospheric probes,
such as the one on the Galileo mission. However, I want to see photos of
towering cumulo-nimbus clouds, not just streams of numbers on P, T and
composition.

That's it in a nutshell. Are there any more takers?


Another Phil