Module 10 Activity: Part 1 - Europa

In this week's Module Activity, we'll explore Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus.

Europa was discussed in the textbook, and probably in a lecture video as well. I may not have discussed Enceladus as much, though, because I wanted to save it for this Activity. As you'll see, when the Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn from the mid-2000s to the late 2010s, it found some remarkable things that suggest Enceladus might be a good place to look for life, much like Europa.

At the end of the last Part of this Activity, you'll write a short argument for whether you'd prefer to keep planning for Europa - as NASA is currently doing, as of late 2018 - or switch to planning for Enceladus.

Since planetary exploration has to live within the realities of the federal budget of the U.S. (or the European Union, or Japan, or Russia, or China, or India), "Both" isn't an option. Oh well, that's life.

A Bit of Background (You can skip this and scroll down to the QUESTIONS if you want):

As you've learned from the textbook and the lecture videos, we've been excited about Europa as a possible abode for life since the Voyager flybys of Jupiter in the late 1970s. In the mid-to-late 2010s, planning for an actual Europa mission began at NASA, because the White House and Congress said so.

At this point in the quarter, it's possible that you (or one or more of your classmates) have written Discussion posts about the topic of Space Policy. Basically that means "how do space missions actually get supported and funded (or not) within the governments of the countries that launch them?"

The Planetary Society is a great resource for information about this; in fact, they are a citizen lobbying organization that advocates for planetary exploration in the halls of Washington, D.C.. Here are three articles that summarize where the Europa mission is at, as of late 2018. They're by Casey Dreier, the Planetary Society's Chief Advocate and Senior Space Policy Advisor, and Jason Davis, the Planetary Society's digital editor.

Feb. 2015: White House budget proposal

In early 2015, late in the Obama years, the White House proposed a 2016 budget that would officially tell NASA "get started on a Europa mission".

May 2015: Waiting to see if Congress adds more money for Europa

During the Obama years, Congress often proposed giving more money to planetary exploration, especially a mission to an "ocean world", than the White House proposed. A lot of this had to do with a Republican congressman who was really interested in the search for life on those worlds. When NASA announced the suite of instruments that would fly on the Europa mission, there was uncertainty as to how any possible extra money would affect the launch date.

February 2017: The Europa mission starts to take shape

As of early 2017, the mission had passed a key milestone within NASA, and had a name, at least within NASA: Europa Clipper.

November 2018: Midterm elections unseat the key Congressman, but mission will probably still go forward

Casey Dreier wrote a summary of what the 2018 midterm elections might mean for NASA. The key Congressman who really pushed for ocean-worlds missions lost reelection, but it looks likely that a Europa mission will still go forward.

So, as of late 2018, it still looks likely that a robotic Europa mission will launch sometime in the 2020s, with a plan to make multiple flybys of this icy moon, to learn more about its possible habitability. At the same time, though, Enceladus (and other ocean worlds!) beckon as well...

QUESTIONS: Europa

You'll use three NASA webpages to answer these questions:

Q 1,2: About Europa

Q 3,4: Ingredients for Life?

Q 5,6: Evidence for an Ocean