Once again: Ad astra per aspera. Drilling the ice on a moon millions of miles away when we don't even have an outpost on our moon? That should have happened at least twenty-five years ago. Space is our destiny, but only if we can stop the nonsense here on earth. Otherwise we'll be like a lost, isolated South American tribe stuck to our planet through stupidity.
This should prove very interesting IF it ever occurs. I've read into Europa quite a bit and the oddity of its environment is the stuff of sci-fi geeks like me. Anything, literally anything (except maybe O) could be below that ice - a type of different life form or perhaps even a civilization that we cannot even conceive because of the nature of our being. Very exciting IF it happens.
Is there anyway to predict the possible damage we could do? I find this fascinating but if there is life down there they may not want a hole drilled in the ice.
The danger we can do? Sure there is potential for contamination but then again if the sea beneath this ice is liquid methane I doubt any bacterias that survived space and lived on the drill head or shaft would have much of an impact on the "ecosystem" if there was one. Also, the fissures created by the gravitational pull of Jupiter as it orbits expose the sea frequently and then it refreezes. I doubt anything we do - it will be automated afterall - will impact Europa greatly.
Then I hope it happens. This is the kind of stuff the UN should be helping with. Get some money out of countries that don't have the technology to do it themselves but would like to share in the research findings. Either that or disband the UN all together.
While I agree in principle on disbanding the UN, undoubtedly in very little time there would be a replacement that is just as deceptive a looter. A powerless, agendaless, moneyless version that allows open public exchange of information (perhaps using the internet) must be provided to fill the vacuum. Keep the lying politicians (pardon the repetition) off the world stage.
yes! our president, along with many whom he has anointed as czars, systematically appeals to the international community (root word: commune) to trump u.s. laws. bullshit! -- j
Having spent 2010-2103 in Oz and NZ I am well aware at how most people in those areas are still so anti-Bush that they haven't awakened to Obama. Most were taken in after Bush's lies became so painfully obvious. My friends there, however, have been hearing my critical analysis of O since 2008. As their opinions of O wane, their respect for my analysis waxes. (But they still wonder at how I can possibly believe that guns aren't evil tools.) Voters are encouraged to choose sides between the Labor Party (anti-business) and the Liberal Party (pro-business.) (Yes, Liberal means something completely different outside the US.) In my experience, Aussies are quite critical of individual leaders but far too trusting of the government system and the Reserve Bank.
I think this is a moot point. We can halt all interplanetary exploration on the grounds that there might be something there that we would either annoy or contaminate. We should (and do) take precautions against contaminating the new environments we contact, but we cannot allow this to paralyze us.
Lake Vostok, I am convinced, is a leftover from the Global Flood.
But the idea of drilling into a sub-glacial ocean on Europa is still a good one. If Europa does have a sub-glacial ocean, I'd like to find out what's in it.
Ad astra per aspera.
Drilling the ice on a moon millions of miles away when we don't even have an outpost on our moon? That should have happened at least twenty-five years ago. Space is our destiny, but only if we can stop the nonsense here on earth. Otherwise we'll be like a lost, isolated South American tribe stuck to our planet through stupidity.
defeat Israel in the current conflict? -- j
A powerless, agendaless, moneyless version that allows open public exchange of information (perhaps using the internet) must be provided to fill the vacuum. Keep the lying politicians (pardon the repetition) off the world stage.
anointed as czars, systematically appeals to the
international community (root word: commune)
to trump u.s. laws. bullshit! -- j
Voters are encouraged to choose sides between the Labor Party (anti-business) and the Liberal Party (pro-business.) (Yes, Liberal means something completely different outside the US.) In my experience, Aussies are quite critical of individual leaders but far too trusting of the government system and the Reserve Bank.
Jan
There was a recent movie about Europe, Europa Report.
But the idea of drilling into a sub-glacial ocean on Europa is still a good one. If Europa does have a sub-glacial ocean, I'd like to find out what's in it.