What will be the most exciting Space Mission of our Generation?

Hi all,

With all past space missions aside, I would like your thoughts on what the most exciting space mission of our generation could be?

Whether NASA have confirmed it or not, what do you think would be an amazing mission to be carried out in our lifetime?

Whether its a moon base, manned mission to mars etc..... the choice is yours!

I came across a future mission on the net today which I think would definatley be extremely exciting as it involves one of the Moons in our solar System that may have the best chance of Harbouring life, Europa.

Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo and is the 6th Moon of Jupiter.

It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen

Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System

The apparent youth and smoothness of the surface have led to the hypothesis that a water ocean exists beneath it, which could conceivably serve as an abode for extraterrestrial life.

en.wikipedia.org...(moon)

This mission is not confirmed yet, but if it is then it could end up being a joint venture with the Russians which would involve a Lander and a NASA Submarine which could beam back live feeds to the Earth!!

Sounds awesome.

The Submarine itself is called the Endurance Robot and its currently being tested in Lake Bonney in Alaska.

As you can see, its a big baby!


[img][/img]

Endurance stands for -

Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtartic Explorer

www.spaceref.com...

Imagine tuning in on NASA TV and seeing live feeds of underwater Europa!! Who knows what could be lurking beneath those depths.

Thats my pick. Id love to see something like this happen in my lifetime.

whats your ideas?

G.

Europa is very exciting but my bet would definitely be a manned mission to Mars.
I am quite convinced that there is life on Mars. Definitely microbial and quite possibly even something a bit more evolved.

Originally posted by grantbeed

Whether NASA have confirmed it or not, what do you think would be an amazing mission to be carried out in our lifetime?

For starters and to get everyone interested in space again; I would say having a child be born off-world would do the trick.

We would have our first extra-terrestrial.

Or we could land men on a passing asteroid. Or we could go back to the moon and tell the truth about what we find.

I definetly think there is complex marine life on Europa,not just bacteria etc so that would be a great mission.Mars i think just had bacteria life forms and nothing else managed to evolve....whether they still exist i dont know.

for me missions like TPF/darwin.

which will be able to tell us if theres planets with atmospheres like earth around other stars.


Europa would be good but how are they gonna get through 10km of ice?


[edit on 21-7-2009 by yeti101]

Originally posted by yeti101

Europa would be good but how are they gonna get through 10km of ice?

We're gonna use fissile material to melt our way down.

It is the only thing with enough energy.

reply to post by Exuberant1


i thought nasa are refusing to use nuclear material on future probes? maybe i read wrong.

but surely europa isnt just a big ice cube. I imagine theres gonna be rock mixed in with the ice? i suppose the orbitor with radar that they send will tell us that.

While I agree that Europa is among the most interesting places to look for life, I'm not quite convinced that it is THE best place. As I said in another thread, I think Saturn's moon Enceladus may be a better candidate in the search for life than Europa.

I'm not saying we should definitely go to Enceladus before Europa -- I'm just saying I think we should be sure which world has the best chances for life before we commit to going to any of them.

Enceladus is also thought to have a liquid ocean beneath it's surface -- but furthermore, Enceladus has something that has not yet been found on Europa, and that is "organic compounds" -- the building blocks of life.

Europa may yet be found to possess these organic compounds (two other Jupiter moons -- Ganymede and Callisto -- have them), but I think more information is needed before we commit a lot of resources to going anywhere, to make sure we a re going to the place with the best chance for life.

However, I agree that a trip to Europa or Enceladus wouldn't necessarily capture the general public's imagination (we landed a probe on Titan and most people didn't seem to care). I think a manned mission to Mars would create the most excitement with the general public compared with any other mission in the next 30+ years.

[edit on 7/21/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]

Originally posted by yeti101
reply to post by Exuberant1

 

i thought nasa are refusing to use nuclear material on future probes? maybe i read wrong.

There is nothing else that they could use.

Nuclear power and fissile material are the only thing that could generate enough heat and meet the energy demands

reply to post by Exuberant1



Thats what i mean i dont think they have any intention of using a probe to melt through the ice of europa. The Orbitor mission to europa was cancelled in 2002. It just seems like pie in the sky tbh

Enceladeus has much easier access to material that comes from inside. My bet is they will go for that.

i dont know how they will be getting through europas ice. Ive searched many sites, but all they say is how the probe will search Europas water for signs of life.

Im sure there will be some kind of plan, after all all the testing they are doing at Lake Bonney is not for nothing surely.

Originally posted by yeti101
Thats what i mean i dont think they have any intention of using a probe to melt through the ice of europa. The Orbitor mission to europa was cancelled in 2002. It just seems like pie in the sky tbh

Here is the one they are testing in Antarctica before they send it to Europa



Almost looks like a UFO



Since the oceans beneath the ice on Europa would have the same temperature of water as our deep oceans do (40 degrees F) and have the same lack of sunlight... I would expect to find it teeming with odd creatures that can withstand extreme presure and even generate their own light. Life on Earth began in the ocean and we have yet to discover all the creatures down there

I sure hope the Critters under the ice on Europa won't mind the intrusion

I wonder if NASA would release the picture just as the probe is about to get eaten



Here are some samples from our waters, recently discovered

From Internos in this thread
www.abovetopsecret.com...


Tiburonia granrojo
en.wikipedia.org...


Dumbo Octopus
www.exploretheabyss.com...


Benthocodon
www.sealifebase.org...〈=Italian


Latrunculia apicalis
www.marinespecies.org...


UNIDENTIFIED


Chondrocladia
en.wikipedia.org...


[edit on 2-8-2009 by zorgon]

wow, these deep sea creatures are amazing indeed.

Yes, with the lack of light we may find similar creatures. Ugly fish with huge black eyes and these light emitting wonders.

Surely the technology is there now to do such a mission? The countries need a more "pro space" leader like JFK.