From article, (In advance of issuing a call for formal proposals, NASA is priming the scientific community to begin thinking about what set of scientific instruments should be included on a lander. Ultimately, ten proposals will be selected to proceed to a competitive concept study, which carries funding of $1.5 million for each selected group, who will have a year to submit their technical proposals.
How would you design a robot to probe Europa’s deep dark waters from a landing site on the icy surface above? That’s the primary framing question for any competitive design concept. NASA will only select proposals that address specific scientific goals—namely, to look for evidence of life and a habitable environment in Europa’s ocean.
What instruments would you include? Ground-penetrating radar to survey structures in the moon’s crust? Chemical detectors to sniff for water vapor and other volatiles that may seep up from the ocean? Motion sensors to measure the movements of floating ice? Sensitive microphones to listen for any sounds penetrating the ice from below? NASA has issued just the right challenge to get imaginations churning….)
NASA eyes a possible landing on Jupiter's Europa
No comments:
Post a Comment