Tag: Europa
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Navigating the twists and turns steering SLS Development
This year’s decision to increase and extend use of the initial “Block 1” operating configuration of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) booster also impacts the space agency’s near-term plans for evolution of the launch vehicle’s design. The Congressional commitment to a second Mobile Launcher for SLS, along with the ability of SLS Block 1 to…
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NASA confirms Galileo flew through Europa plumes, adds excitement for Europa Clipper mission
Newly understood instrumentation readings returned in the 1990s from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in orbit of Jupiter have revealed that the craft not only encountered but also flew through ejecta plumes from Europa’s subterranean ocean. The announcement this week was the culmination of years of work, study, and analysis, and paves the way for interesting discoveries…
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Water plumes on Europa detected by Galileo spacecraft
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s illustration of the Galileo spacecraft, Europa and Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Michigan A review of data captured by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft as it orbited Jupiter in the 1990s indicates it likely flew through a plume of water vapor spewing from cracks in the surface of the moon…
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21-year-old readings boost the case for water plumes spraying out from Europa
An artist’s conception shows the Galileo spacecraft passing through a plume erupting from the surface of Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter. A new computer simulation gives us an idea of how the magnetic field interacted with a plume. The magnetic field lines (depicted in blue) show how the plume interacts with the flow of…
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Breakthrough Discuss turns spotlight on search for life elsewhere in solar system
Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco shows a graphic that compares the size of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, with the British Isles. (Breakthrough Initiatives Photo) STANFORD, Calif. — Are there microbes falling in the snows of Enceladus? Could a drone fly to biological hot spots on Titan? Is life floating in the sulfurous clouds of Venus?…
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Europa Clipper’s launch date dependent on SLS Mobile Launcher readiness
NASA has completed an important three day Technical Interchange Meeting regarding the agency’s upcoming flagship Europa Clipper mission. The probe, set to launch on the first science mission of the SLS rocket, currently holds a No Earlier Than launch date of 4 June 2022 – a date that is highly dependent on the SLS Mobile…
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New discoveries raise prospects for life on moons of Jupiter and Saturn
This diagram of Saturn’s moon Enceladus shows its interior structure, with an icy shell and a subsurface ocean of liquid water over a rocky core. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Scientists announced Thursday that measurements from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft detected hydrogen gas, a key energy source for microbial life, in a plume gushing from a vast liquid water…
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Hubble spots more signs of Europa’s watery plumes, lifting hopes for habitability
These composite images show a suspected plume of material erupting two years apart from the same location on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Both plumes, photographed in ultraviolet light by Hubble, were seen in silhouette as the moon passed in front of Jupiter. (NASA / ESA / STScI / USGS) Saturn’s moon Enceladus wasn’t the only…
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“Statistically significant evidence” for water emissions from Europa
NASA has confirmed “statistically significant evidence” from the Hubble Space Telescope indicating the presence of salty watery ejecta plumes from the Jovian moon Europa. The announcement lends further proof for the existence of a deep, saline ocean under Europa’s icy surface and creates new urgency and objectives for NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission in the…
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Possible water plumes spotted above Europa
This composite image shows suspected plumes of water vapor erupting at the 7 o’clock position off the limb of Jupiter’s moon Europa. The plumes, photographed by NASA’s Hubble’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, were seen in silhouette as the moon passed in front of Jupiter. Credits: NASA/ESA/W. Sparks (STScI)/USGS Astrogeology Science Center The Hubble Space Telescope…