Projects: Europa Mission Campaign
Campaign Facts
International Europa Task Force
Exploring Europa will be among the most challenging missions ever attempted,
taxing to the limit even the most experienced space agency. Which means it
may be best conducted -- and perhaps only conducted -- if the spacefaring
nations of Earth work together.
The Planetary Society is not content to sit back and wait for government
bureaucracies worldwide to act. We’re seizing the opportunity to move
forward now by creating the International Europa Task Force.
The International Europa Task Force brings together the
most talented scientists and engineers -- many of whom are already working
to convince space agencies of the importance of a Europa mission -- who
can lay out the best possible way to explore this Jovian moon.
Steps to a Mission
The first step in our Explore Europa Campaign will
be to convince government and space agency leaders worldwide of the value
-- and the necessity -- of a mission to Europa. We are meeting with space
program leaders in the U.S. and other spacefaring nations that might play
a role.
Armed with facts, figures, and recommendations from Earth’s leading
planetary scientists and engineers, we’ll show them that a mission to
Europa might well be among humankind’s most glorious missions of exploration.
Second, we will use our international reputation and recognized
clout to engage working scientists and engineers worldwide, harnessing their
knowledge, expertise and desire for a Europa mission. Putting them to work
will make it happen.
A mission to Europa absolutely must be an international effort, bringing
together the human and financial resources of two or more of the world’s
space agencies. The wonderful Cassini/Huygens mission is a good model to follow.
Our task force will bring together the best space program managers, scientists
and engineers -- the people with real-world experience -- to focus on Europa
exploration. We’ll give these experts a forum for sharing ideas…weighing
each agency’s capabilities…reconsidering budgets…working
trade-offs among launch vehicles, orbits and payloads…and hammering out
a plan that can create a “do-able” mission of exploration to Europa.
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