FORUM

Europa’s near-surface radiation environment

http://www.igpp.ucla.edu/public/mkivelso/refs/PUBLICATIONS/Paranicas%20Europa2007GL030834.pdf

It appears there may be spots on Europa which are shielded partially from radiation:

As flux tubes are carried over Europa, hundreds of
keV to tens of MeV electrons are absorbed by the moon due
to their short bounce times. This results in an asymmetry in
energetic charged particles in the near surface environment
and in the bombardment of Europa’s surface. For example,
electrons between about 0.1 and 50 MeV do not have direct
access to more than 50% of the sphere at 100 km Europa
altitude. Moreover, a hypothetical orbiting spacecraft at this
altitude would see a reduction of about 33% of the sky,
based on Europa’s obstructing its field-of-view. We find that
the predicted radiation reduction due to the moon’s presence
is consistent with data from Galileo’s Energetic Particles
Detector (EPD). In this paper, we present data that illustrate
this consistency and use standard models of the radiation
environment to evaluate the energetic electron fluence
at 100 km.

If water is that effective at blocking the radiation, it's possible that an advance probe could establish a subsurface base. It would just need enough radiation protection to keep it functional on the approach to Europa and during excavation, and the base could be dug deep enough that it would protect the probe and any future manned missions from the radiation. The mission would still be protected from radiation, but without needing to carry as much protective material.

I have been reading about the moon outposts and that seems very practical. Why not start setting up a base on the moon and learn about the radiation effects there and how to carry on living there for a month or so before trying it out on Europa? Moreover it's just a 3 days difference and so it's a lot more safer for trials isn't it?