Jupiter flagship selected Options

[john_s]

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/fea...s/20090218.html

[volcanopele]

If anything I thought the press release didn't go far enough to explain the reasoning behind decision to go with Europa first, then Titan later. But to say that it didn't make it clear that both are needed, or that it is putting an albatross on the Titan mission, I don't think is fair. I think the fairer thing to say is that NASA and ESA acknowledged that there has been more technological development in preparation for a Europa mission over the last decade, particularly in rad-hard electronics, than the Titan mission, where Cassini follow-ons have only been considered in earnest for the last two or three years.

It is clear from the press release that this isn't an end for development of a Titan mission. Like the Europa mission, it could use more marinating, in other words, now that we have an idea of what a Titan mission might look like, we can work over the next decade to get those technologies up to the level where Europa is now, so that when the next Flagship mission is chosen, Titan will be ready-for-primetime. The press release makes this clear when it mentions that Titan mission will continue to be developed in conjunction with the upcoming decadal survey.