Hubble finds additional evidence of water vapor plumes on Europa

The existence of plumes would make studying the moon's interior ocean easier.

Read the whole story

 

[Asvarduil]

Dammit DCRoss ninja'd me. I was about to bring up the required "Attempt no landing there!" thing just to get it out of the way, but before I could be witless, he just had to jump in.



I'm going to look for a suitable pony for this thread, and this time it's not THavoc's fault (yet.)

 

[Asvarduil]

THavoc[/url]":2vssykl4]

Asvarduil[/url]":2vssykl4]Dammit DCRoss ninja'd me. I was about to bring up the required "Attempt no landing there!" thing just to get it out of the way, but before I could be witless, he just had to jump in.



I'm going to look for a suitable pony for this thread, and this time it's not THavoc's fault (yet.)

Damn it man!

Ok now it's your fault - you typed words, with a keyboard. They reached the internet, the pony is now in your name.*

Back on topic, though, the options for researching Europa seem legion. In addition to cubesats and direct fly-throughs, what about maybe deploying micro-rovers or stationary sensors directly to the planet? As noted, we've only had cursory observations of Europa; it seems like this is the perfect excuse to get more hardware out there, and to learn more.

Also, think about the PR. If you can get some awesome shots of another world, it could surely drum up public interest not only in the mission - thus resulting in maybe more money for NASA - but also people to develop into the astrophysicists and astroengineers of tomorrow. Look at what the flyby of Pluto did for the space program!

*: If this were a political thread, there'd already be a pony. I have great respect for interstellar exploration, though. I'll refrain from using this thread's allowance of pony until it's clear that it's over.

 

[Asvarduil]

Veritas super omens[/url]":3knrpgi9]We should petition NASA to name one of its hardware devices My Little Pony.

A deep space probe named Twilight Sparkle, perhaps?

...Actually, that's not a half bad idea, when you think about it.

 

[Asvarduil]

THavoc[/url]":12tgi011]

Asvarduil[/url]":12tgi011]

Veritas super omens[/url]":12tgi011]We should petition NASA to name one of its hardware devices My Little Pony.

A deep space probe named Twilight Sparkle, perhaps?

...Actually, that's not a half bad idea, when you think about it.

That would be a good way to end all life on Earth.

I'd recommend against it.

It's better than naming a probe 'Fluttershy'. I mean, you're practically begging for a comms failure with that name.

 

[Asvarduil]

peipas[/url]":1gfqa9ay]

And with only a very tenuous atmosphere, it is cold: -210 degrees Celsius.

For we yanks outside the scientific community, that is -346 degrees Fahrenheit, or just over 100 degrees warmer than absolute zero.

Absolute zero is -310.4 C F, correct? (I could be off by a few decimal points; in my day to day job I never have to worry with absolute zero yet. Or the Kelvin scale at all, for that matter.)

Edit: Note to self - don't mix up Metric and Imperial. Bad things happen.

 

[Asvarduil]

Statistical[/url]":1vvhd8bf]

Asvarduil[/url]":1vvhd8bf]

peipas[/url]":1vvhd8bf]

And with only a very tenuous atmosphere, it is cold: -210 degrees Celsius.

For we yanks outside the scientific community, that is -346 degrees Fahrenheit, or just over 100 degrees warmer than absolute zero.

Absolute zero is -310.4 C, correct? (I could be off by a few decimal points; in my day to day job I never have to worry with absolute zero yet. Or the Kelvin scale at all, for that matter.)

−273.15°C. So -210C is ~63 Kelvin.

Crap, I think I did a Farenheit <-> Celsius screw-up. It's a good thing I'm not building a spaceship right now.

 

[Asvarduil]

NomadUK[/url]":15lxvbwg]For this reason astrobiologists rank Europa at the top, or near the top, of places in the Solar System (aside from Earth) where extant life might exist.

If extant life doesn't exist, we've got a bit of a problem.

It means some asshole - probably named "The Doctor" or "Captain Janeway" broke causality. Again.