Thursday, February 19, 2009

Russians to Europa (me too!!!!)

The Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences welcomed several delegations of foreign scientists last week to discuss the issues of exploring one of Jupiter’s moons. The specialists gathered to discuss the potential problems, which may appear during research missions to Europa.

Europa is one of the most attractive celestial bodies in the solar system. Scientists do not doubt about the existence of the ocean underneath its layers of ice. They actively discuss a possible existence of life forms in the water environment of the moon. The rovers that may head to Europa in the future will try to find an answer to this question.

“It is too early to say that a mission to Europa is ready. We will have to study every detail of the project at first and look into all potential difficulties that may arise from this initiative. The process will take a couple of years, and we will then decide if the Russian mission to Europa becomes a reality or not,” a leading scientist of the above-mentioned institute, A.V. Zakharov told Pravda.ru

If Russia eventually decides to launch a spacecraft to Europa, it will take seven or eight years to complete all technical preparations to the project. Thus, the rover will most likely be launched not earlier than 2020.

NASA also announced its readiness to launch a group of rovers to Europa. The US space agency is expected to make an official announcement on the matter this week.


soooo....we're doing rovers too. uh huh.

Even at their height, I don't believe the Soviets sent anything to Jupiter. Or did they?

They really, really want to make it appear that they are in a race with us. Mars, Jupiter...huh.

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