Is Europa really the "highest priority" of the community?, Cleave said it was at LPSC? Options

[mcaplinger]

From Emily's LPSC blog: "Bob Pappalardo would not sit down until he got Cleave to acknowledge that Europa is the consensus highest priority of the planetary science community."

Cleave was obviously poorly prepared for this session, but I don't see that this acknowledgement is either meaningful or particularly accurate. If Europa were the "highest priority" of the PS community as a whole, then one might wonder why we were spending all this money on Mars. I could easily imagine that Europa is the highest priority of the outer planets community, but frankly I was surprised when Europa Orbiter appeared in the '07 budget (presumably the result of some serious lobbying on someone's part.) It was pretty obvious to me then that there would be no money for it, especially in the aftermath of JPL running the old EO project into the ground with cost overruns and engineering upscopes. (And JIMO is best forgotten.)

Don't get me wrong, I would love to be involved with a Europa mission (we did what I think was a good proposal design for EO) but I don't see either the money or the political support being there in the near term. I know it's frustrating, but one has to be realistic, and it might help to avoid the aura of entitlement that I perceive is building in some parts of the community (not referring to you, Bob). Of course, I am just a lowly engineer.

[The Messenger]

http://www.space.com/news/060407_nss_nasa.html

Griffin said that budgetary constraints forced NASA to call a halt to planning for a Europa mission. “But sometimes when you close one door, another opens,” he added, making note of the much lower radiation environment of Saturn’s moon, Enceladus. That moon was recently found to have possible liquid water reservoirs erupting in Yellowstone-like geyser fashion.


Enceladus may be an easier target to explore, Griffin said. “We’ll see.”

[ljk4-1]

I know Griffin is an engineer, but how much astronomical science training has he had?

How much does/can he really appreciate exploring other worlds for the sake of
knowledge?

I know Griffin has a mandate from his bosses (Bush and Cheney) to get humans
on the Moon and Mars (and Beyond they like to add, cause it doesn't cost anything
just to say it), but what happens in 2009 and will space science even be happening
by then?

[Spacely]

I know Griffin is an engineer, but how much astronomical science training has he had?

How much does/can he really appreciate exploring other worlds for the sake of
knowledge?

I know Griffin has a mandate from his bosses (Bush and Cheney) to get humans
on the Moon and Mars (and Beyond they like to add, cause it doesn't cost anything
just to say it), but what happens in 2009 and will space science even be happening
by then?

Well, I'm fairly certain planetary space science isn't going anywhere, even if it's reduced. Post-2009 we can still expect JUNO, Mars scout 2011/2013, RLEP-2, and whatever new Discovery Mission (or two) they greenlight in the next 18 months. JWST is still a go, too. If they manage all those things and a Crew Launch Vehicle and CEV by 2013, I'll be happy. It's a much better haul than what we got between 1975 and 1985.