Europa Mission: NASA Looks for Science Research Proposals for Exploration of Jovian Moon

An upcoming mission to Europa may be the best chance for finding extra-terrestrial life in our solar system. In preparation for this historic mission, NASA is seeking proposals for the science instruments that could be carried aboard this future mission to one of Jupiter’s moons.

Formally referred to as an “Announcement of Opportunity (AO)” the request for proposals is seeking instruments could address fundamental questions about the icy moon and the search for life beyond Earth.

“The possibility of life on Europa is a motivating force for scientists and engineers around the world,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “This solicitation will select instruments which may provide a big leap in our search to answer the question: are we alone in the universe?”

From the proposals submitted, the agency will select approximately 20 this April, and then provide the selectees with approximately $25 million to advance instrument formulation and development as part of a Phase A concept study.

After this phase, the list will be narrowed down with the aim of selecting eight instruments to be built for flight and science operations, and their eventually journey to the icy surface of Europa.

Current belief among most scientists holds that beneath the frozen surface, Europa likely has a liquid ocean which may harbor life.

Proposals for the mission must be compatible with a spacecraft that would either orbit or perform multiple flybys of Europa. The instruments “will be used to conduct high priority scientific investigations addressing the science goals for the moon’s exploration outlined in the National Resource Council’s (NRC) Planetary Decadal Survey.”

The Decadal Survey deemed a mission to Europa among the highest priority scientific pursuits for NASA. It listed

A mission of high priority for NASA, the agency has identified five key science objectives in priority order that are necessary to improve our understanding of the potentially habitable moon:

•Characterize the extent of the ocean and its relation to the deeper interior
•Characterize the ice shell and any subsurface water, including their heterogeneity, and the nature of surface-ice-ocean exchange
•Determine global surface, compositions and chemistry, especially as related to habitability
•Understand the formation of surface features, including sites of recent or current activity, identify and characterize candidate sites for future detailed exploration
•Understand Europa’s space environment and interaction with the magnetosphere.
While characterizing landing sites for future exploration is the fourth scientific priority in the Planetary Decadal Survey, NASA places high priority on this goal to enable a potential future lander mission to Europa. Current data does not provide sufficient information to identify landing sites and design a landing system capable of safely reaching the surface. In the AO, NASA included a reconnaissance goal to characterize scientifically compelling sites, as well as hazards, for a potential future landed mission to Europa.

“Proposals must be responsive to one or more of the six objectives,” said Curt Niebur, Outer Planets Program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Plans could be adjusted to programmatic decisions made by NASA in the future.”

The deadline for submitting proposals to the AO is October 17, 2014, and more information about the process and the mission can be found online by going to:
http://go.nasa.gov/1p1QU0b.

More information about Europa itself is available from NASA on its web site at: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/europa.