Jupiter flagship selected Options

[john_s]

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

[nprev]

Re remote examination of cryogenic-temp liquids: After some thought, this seems like a non-trivial problem. Gross compositional measurements via a GCMS seem quite feasible, but what of the more volatile fractions? (Thinking complex organics of unfamiliar structure, here). Detailed chemical analysis seems necessary, and I frankly don't even know where to begin there.

All this stuff, whatever it might be, is at thermal equilibrium with its environment. I may be wrong here, but to my knowledge we really don't have much experience designing complex electronics & associated small-scale mechanical systems that work in hypercold environments like Titan for prolonged periods of time--and they'd HAVE to in order to avoid destroying a liquid sample before it could be analyzed.

Point being, this particular aspect is just one small but crucial component of the overall technological readiness needed to really tackle Titan at a Flagship scale. It's wise to remember as well that future missions to Saturn need to be very capable indeed scientifically if for no other reason than that it's a real ordeal just to get there. Launch opportunities to Jupiter are more frequent, and the transit time is much less than that to Saturn. Therefore (IMHO), EJSM seems like the right mission at this time.