Space Mission To Jupiter’s Moon, Europa

Just lately there has been alot of talk about missions to Mars and further exploring what can be found on the planet. But a group who call themselves Objective Europa want to go where no one else has thought of going, Jupiter’s moon. The group are looking into the feasibility of sending a one-way crew to this icy moon, which is called Europa, in order to search for knowledge and extraterrestial life.

Objective Europa currently is only an online group and are not attached with any legal organisation. The group has stated its aim by saying, “Our purpose is to establish the foundation for and carry out a crewed mission to Jovian ice moon Europa through international crowd-research and participation.”

The team is made up of some interesting names and give the possible mission some credibility. There is Kristian von Bengtson, co-founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals, a non-profit organisation that aims to launch humans into space. He is a Danish architect but specialises in manned spaceflight. Another team member is Michele Faragalli, who is a rover mobility specialist for the NASA contractor Neptec Design Group.

Jacques Cousteau’s son, scientist and diver Pierre-Yves Cousteau, is an ambassador for the group as well as being a team member.

At the moment this mission is nothing more than a concept but the group have opened up various research topic for discussion. They will need to gather information and find out whether it is feasible to send a manned mission to Europa, as well as do cost analysis.

So the race is on, will humans land on Mars or Europa first?

[Image via Astronomy Central]

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57604171-1/move-over-mars-manned-europa-mission-considered/