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A Science Strategy for the Exploration of Europa (1999) / Chapter Skim
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1 Why Europa?
Pages 7-12

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From page 7...
... Clarke's science-fiction novel, 2010: Odyssey II, 3 in which life-harboring Europa is declared off-limits to humans with a mysterious, preemptive warning "All these world are yours except Europa, attempt no landings there." Scientific and public interest has intensified as the Galileo spacecraft has revealed remarkable indications of geologically recent or ongoing activity in Europa's atmosphere, on its surface, and within its interior. There is abundant evidence on its icy surface for relatively recent geologic activity, including resurfacing with fresh ice and tectonic movement of the ice.
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From page 8...
... (From Atlas Coelestis seu Harmonia Macrocosmica of Andreas Cellarius, 1660-1661 edition, Amsterdam. Courtesy of the Mendillo Collection.)
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From page 10...
... In addition to the search for liquid water and the potential for the existence of either present or past life, the occurrence of relatively recent geologic processes on Europa makes it an appropriate and high-priority target for detailed exploration. Evidence for resurfacing and ice tectonics, dynamic interactions between the surface,
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From page 11...
... make Europa a fascinating object and a suitable place to examine chemical and physical processes that may have preceded the emergence of living organisms.6 These characteristics cause Europa to stand out as being important to understanding the Jovian system and, in fact, the solar system as a whole, and to require further exploration after the completion of the Galileo mission. Indeed, NASA's current strategy for solar system exploration calls for the launch of the Europa Orbiter mission in the early part of the next decade (see Box 1.2~.
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From page 12...
... 6. Space Studies Board, National Research Council, An Integrated Strategy for the Planetary Sciences: 1995-2010, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1994, page 61.
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Key Terms

  • europa orbiter
  • recent geologic
  • icy surface
  • orbiter mission
  • water ice

  • surface suggests
  • energetic particles
  • space studies
  • relatively recent
  • rocky material

  • geologic activity
  • integrated strategy
  • thin layer
  • surface layer
  • subsequently froze

  • living organisms
  • europa suggests
  • europa extends
  • remarkable indications
  • internal heating

  • chemical energy
  • global ocean
  • larger mass
  • radiogenic isotopes
  • ice tectonics

  • fascinating object
  • buried beneath
  • neighboring satellites
  • current strategy
  • detailed exploration


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