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Welcome to the Objective Europa forum for general debate and discussions in areas related to a crewed mission to Jovian moon Europa. Suggestions and ideas in the forum will not be filed as part of the research in phase-I.

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Pages: 1
Author Topic: First probe mission to Europa


Pierre-
Estienne
Europa Dreamer
Posts: 3
First probe mission to Europa
on: October 5, 2013, 16:36

Hey everyone

The first step before launching a crewed mission is to send a robotic mission to Europa.

Here's my plan:

The probe will be carried by a Falcon 9 to GEO

The probe is composed of 3 elements: an orbiter, a lander, and a ROV, each taking 3-4Cubesats units

An orbiter:
Will make a topographic map of Europa and take pictures. It will carry an inflatable antenna to serve as a communication relay.
It will use CAT ION Thruster

A lander:
Will land on the surface and communicate with Earth with a small antenna directed at the Orbiter

The ROV:
With a heated head. Nuclear heated, with hot water streams clearing the way in front of the probe to avoid being trapped by small dust particles. Linked to the lander by optic fiber. With HD cameras and powerful lights, plus an automated microscope allowing it to search for life.

Nuclear power is necessary, as well as ion thrusters.

Useful links

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597141632/cat-a-thruster-for-interplanetary-cubesats : the kind of probe we'll send, and a presentation of the thruster

The ROV: http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/5518/tiny-submersible-could-search-for-life-in-europas-ocean

The mission would be cheap, "easy". The orbiter will be nothing more than a Cubesat with a good antenna, a camera and a tool to measure Europa'ice thickness and find a good spot to land. The lander will be nothing more than a platform with an antenna for the ROV, which will be nothing more than a small heated box with HD cameras.

We have to think of the radiations of course.
We can also imagine putting the ROV inside a heated probe.

I'm looking forward to write a complete report on that with you, to have a complete mission made of Cubesats to look for life on Europa.

All the best,
Pierre


ragdestein
Administrator
Posts: 17
Re: First probe mission to Europa
on: October 5, 2013, 17:18

This all sounds very interesting.
Looking forward to reading your report.


Pierre-
Estienne
Europa Dreamer
Posts: 3
Re: First probe mission to Europa
on: July 6, 2014, 23:31

Hi,
I've been thinking a lot about a robotic mission to Europa, and with the amazing improvements in AUV and Deep Space CubeSats, I think the last technology that remains to be developed is the melting probe to reach Europa's Ocean.

I think it might be interesting to launch an open source, crowdsourced project to design the melting probe.

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