How NASA Could Explore Jupiter Moon Europa's Ocean

[Dryson]

http://www.space.com/29732-jupiter-moon-europa-ocean-submarine.html

I think more importantly than finding life on Europa is whether or not the water is potable for human consumption. If the water is potable then large chunks of the frozen surface could be cut away from Europa towed to Lunar, Martian or Earth orbit and then cut into smaller manageable pieces to be used for what ever purposes we would need the water.

Europa could even be used to help create small domed lakes on Mars where fish are raised and then consumed as vital form of nutrients for those living on and visiting Mars.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Unless people are going to live on Europa, harvesting its water makes no sense at all.

Even the most aggressive water filtration methods would be orders of magnitude cheaper than shipping water from across the solar system.

 

[Melakon]

We can't mess with Europa. Space aliens already told us to stay away from it in 2010.

 

[sojourner]

Yeah, you don't harvest drinking water from large gravity wells like moons. to cart around the solar system. there are plenty of low-g asteroids and comets for that.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Maybe Dryson is suggesting this as a brilliant marketing strategy for luxury water brands.

"Don't drink Earth water like a peon, drink Europan water, the sweet nectar even Jupiter's pull can't contain! Only $699 per 20 oz. bottle!"

 

[Silvercrest]

We can't mess with Europa. Space aliens already told us to stay away from it in 2010.

Well ... they didn't specifically warn us off using the water. I'm thinking if we just siphoned off a little at a time. Do you think they'd notice an orbital hose?

 

[HIjol]

Courtesy of EarthEuropa Aqua Corp.

"A Hookup at Every Dwelling"

 

[publiusr]

I'm thinking that a type of asterisk shaped rolling legged robot:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/logi....ieee.org/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=5538280

Could tumble into a crevasse/fumerole, releasing a self-melter that would swim beneath the surface.

I'd really like to see something even larger--something like an automated version of the NR-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_submarine_NR-1

More likely
https://www.universetoday.com/163186/mini-subs-could-one-day-ply-the-seas-under-europas-ice/

 

[Dryson]

Yeah, you don't harvest drinking water from large gravity wells like moons. to cart around the solar system. there are plenty of low-g asteroids and comets for that.

Given the cost of fuel required to chase those comets and asteroids with water on them around the solar system, the cost of removing the same volume of water / ice chunk from Europa would save money in the long run.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

Yeah, you don't harvest drinking water from large gravity wells like moons. to cart around the solar system. there are plenty of low-g asteroids and comets for that.

Given the cost of fuel required to chase those comets and asteroids with water on them around the solar system, the cost of removing the same volume of water / ice chunk from Europa would save money in the long run.

What? You know Europa moves in an orbit just like those other bodies right? So we still would have to chase down Europa too. I am certain there are plenty of other closer options, should we ever decide to start harvesting water from space. Yes, each smaller object may have less water than Europa as a whole, but you will also have to make multiple trips to Europa to harvest water. And don't be so dismissive of the gravity well. Imagine pulling a few billion gallons of water out of that gravity well. That's what we would have to do.

 

[sojourner]

Yeah, you don't harvest drinking water from large gravity wells like moons. to cart around the solar system. there are plenty of low-g asteroids and comets for that.

Given the cost of fuel required to chase those comets and asteroids with water on them around the solar system, the cost of removing the same volume of water / ice chunk from Europa would save money in the long run.

Nope, the energy expenditure to move around the solar system is negligible compared to climbing out of moon and planetary gravity wells. And you don't have to go "chasing" them. Just wait for the ones that come conveniently close.

 

[Dryson]

Yeah, you don't harvest drinking water from large gravity wells like moons. to cart around the solar system. there are plenty of low-g asteroids and comets for that.

Given the cost of fuel required to chase those comets and asteroids with water on them around the solar system, the cost of removing the same volume of water / ice chunk from Europa would save money in the long run.

Nope, the energy expenditure to move around the solar system is negligible compared to climbing out of moon and planetary gravity wells. And you don't have to go "chasing" them. Just wait for the ones that come conveniently close.

Sitting around convientantly waiting is not an option when colonizing space. You would actually spend more resources on waiting instead of going after the ones that convientantly pass by.

Not only do you have to worry about the maintenance cost of pursuing the roids or comets you also have to expend more resources on trajectory analysis as well as trajectory failure thus causing more resources to be spent on re aligning the mission.

A direct launch from Europa with ice chunks to either Mars or Earth negates the extra potential for mission failure.

Wanna move around the solar system? Buy a Solar Yacht from the local tourist center.

 

[Relayer1]

....create small domed lakes on Mars where fish are raised and then consumed as vital form of nutrients for those living on and visiting Mars.

You'd have to be crazy to try to raise any form of livestock - you lose around 90% of the total nutrition by adding another step feeding vegetation to animals.

 

[sojourner]

Not only do you have to worry about the maintenance cost of pursuing the roids or comets you also have to expend more resources on trajectory analysis as well as trajectory failure thus causing more resources to be spent on re aligning the mission.

My cellphone has enough computing power to do that. Not a big concern.

 

[Dryson]

I was reading an article about scientists had seen a plume on Europa that they haven't seen since. This got me to thinking of why the plume hasn't been seen again. The I thought about Earth and volcanoes. On Earth when pressure at the core increases because mass has been added to the core in the form of debris from tectonic plate movement the pressure is released and magma sent to the surface through lava tubes.

The plume on Europa would most likely function the same way as the volcanoes on Earth do. There must be a rocky layer close to the core of Europa otherwise the core would have extinguished itself millions of years ago with a sudden release of water into the core causing a pressure cooker effect to take place that might have even of blown the planet apart.

The frozen ice and rocky mixture would keep the core from becoming solid but would also keep the core active just enough to create a pressure that when rocky material entered the core and the mass increased the pressure would find its way to the surface.

I would also have to think similar to Earth volcanoes Europa would also have lava tubes. As the molten core material rushed to the surface the heat would cause the ice to crack where water would then meet the magma causing steam and pressure to increase. The steam would then find its way to the surface through fissures.

With the above process it could be likely that life does exist on Europa much the way life exists at the bottom of our oceans. There is not any light at all at the bottom of the ocean but hydrothermal vents allowing gas and pressure from the core of Europa to escape from could heat the surrounding area providing life with what it needs to survive.

http://www.indiana.edu/~g105lab/images/gaia_chapter_13/vent_communities.htm

 

[HIjol]

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