Europa Orbiter, Speculation, updates and discussion |
Europa Orbiter, Speculation, updates and discussion |
May 8 2006, 08:35 PM
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#166
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
While BAE's roadmap claims they are working on a megarad-hard RAD750, the ones they've delivered are only rated to 100 krad, which is at least 3x too soft for the radiation environment we were working to for EO. Maybe they've moved that bar now. There have been no dramatic technology breakthroughs. Any claim that a Europa orbiter has been enabled by such is simply marketing hype. If the radiation environment is less hostile than previously estimated, Galileo's long life can be seen in a new light. |
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May 22 2006, 02:08 AM
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#167
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Member Group: Members Posts: 169 Joined: 17-March 06 Member No.: 709 |
As we wait for NASA to come to their senses and start work on the Europa Orbiter, here is an image to whet our appetites. According to NASA, it is the highest resolution image of Europa obtained by Galileo. This image is from Galileo's 12th orbit around Jupiter and was recorded on December 16, 1997. I've always liked this image as it reminds one of the view you would get looking out of an airplane window (I know that Europa has no atmosphere.). I consider it in the same class as the famous Lunar Orbiter 2 oblique photo of the crater Copernicus obtained about 30 years before the Europa image. It's been over 8 years since the Europa photo was taken. How many more years before we get back - 8? 10? 15? Here is the Europa photo http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA01180.jpg Here is the Copernicus photo http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2d/Lo2_h162_3.gif |
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May 22 2006, 10:20 PM
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#168
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1276 Joined: 25-November 04 Member No.: 114 |
At the rate we are going I hope to see any probe to Europa. I'm 30 now.
I was hoping for a Subsurface Probe buy the time I was retired. |
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
May 23 2006, 01:25 AM
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#169
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Guests |
As we wait for NASA to come to their senses and start work on the Europa Orbiter, here is an image to whet our appetites. According to NASA, it is the highest resolution image of Europa obtained by Galileo. This image is from Galileo's 12th orbit around Jupiter and was recorded on December 16, 1997. I've always liked this image as it reminds one of the view you would get looking out of an airplane window (I know that Europa has no atmosphere.). It's been over 8 years since the Europa photo was taken. How many more years before we get back - 8? 10? 15? Here is the Europa photo http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA01180.jpg There was a little commentary on that photo at the February "Europa Focus Group" meeting -- specifically, that while it shows what seem to be ridges with quite dramatic slopes, it doesn't seem to show any large crevasses (and its resolution should be high enough to see them if they're there). Also note the total absence of small craters. Of course, the tendency of dark material to slide to the bottom of slopes on the Galilean icy moons may be exaggerating the apparent roughness of the ridges as well. |
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May 23 2006, 01:50 AM
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#170
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Member Group: Members Posts: 169 Joined: 17-March 06 Member No.: 709 |
There was a little commentary on that photo at the February "Europa Focus group" meeting -- specifically, that while it shows what seem to be ridges with quite dramatic slopes, it doesn't seem to show any large crevasses (and its resolution should be high enough to see them if they're there). Also note the total absence of small craters. Of course, the tendency of dark material to slide to the bottom of slopes on the Galilean icy moons may be exaggerating the apparent roughness of the ridges as well. attachments removed - they were linked to just a few posts above, no need, use or benefit to attaching them to a post. |
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May 26 2006, 07:19 AM
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#171
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 78 Joined: 29-December 05 Member No.: 623 |
As we wait for NASA to come to their senses and start work on the Europa Orbiter, here is an image to whet our appetites. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA01180.jpg I always regret that the highest-resolution Europa press release photos were only half-released soon after the Galileo image data first hit the ground, but never updated with full versions of the photos after the 2nd pass through the spacecraft's tape recorder. Here is the full photo, rotated and with a stretch applied. Mind the gap. |
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May 26 2006, 08:02 AM
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#172
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Member Group: Members Posts: 599 Joined: 26-August 05 Member No.: 476 |
Wow, the added context puts the view into perspective. I recall seeing the left half image separately before, but did not associate it with the right half image. I gather you "mind the gap" comment is referring to the data dropout, but I also find "gap" going from side to side striking, particularly in revealing the cross sections on the right side.
Thanks for posting the image! |
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
May 26 2006, 12:24 PM
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#173
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Guests |
Has anybody ever done a photometric analysis of this image to try to determine how much of the dark areas is due to genuine sun-angle shadowing, and how much is due to dark-albedo material in the lower-altitude places?
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May 26 2006, 01:00 PM
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#174
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Member Group: Members Posts: 656 Joined: 20-April 05 From: League City, Texas Member No.: 285 |
Here is the full photo, rotated and with a stretch applied. Mind the gap. I too had also only seen the lower quality half-image previously. Wow, indeed. There's just all sorts of neat stuff going on in there... I'd love to spend a few days hiking around the area. If I'm not mistaken, there are even hints of layering in some of the tilted slabs, which could probably tell us something interesting about the history of the ice. |
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May 26 2006, 01:49 PM
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#175
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Member Group: Members Posts: 656 Joined: 20-April 05 From: League City, Texas Member No.: 285 |
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May 26 2006, 02:35 PM
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#176
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Member Group: Members Posts: 153 Joined: 11-December 04 Member No.: 120 |
I wonder if the slabs on the top and bottom drifted apart and the blocky terrain welded up from below. That blocky piece of terrain has a different texture all together, sort of chaotic, where the two slabs are much more grooved.
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May 27 2006, 12:38 AM
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#177
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Member Group: Members Posts: 234 Joined: 8-May 05 Member No.: 381 |
Remember the Voyager days, when Europa was touted as being "the smoothest object in the solar
system"? Now, everybody talks about how rough the surface is for a landing ! |
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Jun 16 2006, 04:16 AM
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#178
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 78 Joined: 29-December 05 Member No.: 623 |
For those Europaphiles who might have missed this, from the Planetary Society. Additional info is on Emily's TPS blog. The House Subcommittee, at least, wants to see a Europa new start.
http://www.planetary.org/about/press/relea...s_Save_Our.html June 14, 2006 House Subcommittee Helps Save Our Science Pasadena, CA, — The fiscal year 2007 budget proposed by the Administration for NASA threatens to end a dazzling era of planetary exploration. Today, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, and Related Agencies marked-up the NASA budget, prior to sending the budget to full Committee. The subcommittee today approved a budget of $16.7 billion, $100 million less than that requested by the Administration. But, it restored $75 million (out of $330 million) of the funding that the Administration had cut from space science plans. ... Especially noteworthy was $15 million directed for a mission to explore Europa, the icy moon of Jupiter, with a subsurface ocean that is considered by many scientists as a possible habitat for life. This had been cut out of the plan by the Administration, and The Planetary Society vigorously campaigned for its reinstatement. Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) has been a strong supporter of this mission. Funding for the Terrestrial Planet Finder mission was also provided, another mission that the Society strongly supported. |
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