European Scientists Weigh Possibility of Visiting Jupiter's Europa

Europa, the sixth largest moon in the solar system, has been discovered to be an ice queen. The quest for more knowledge about Europa has led scientists to convene in Paris to tackle different proposals for new Europa missions. Scientists have already been captivated by one of Jupiter's moons known as "Jupiter II" since its discovery in 1610 by Galileo. 

According to BBC News, scientists have quite a number of ideas that could count as add-ons to the U.S. missions that are most likely to happen in 2022. The ideas range from remote-sensing instruments to penetrators. The aim is to punch a hole on Europa's ice-filled surface. However, the idea has to win the approval and support of the European Space Agency.

The organization based in Paris is on the verge of issuing an announcement to fill a medium-cost launch opportunity. The invitation will cover the full spectrum of space exploration and not merely planetary science. The exploration will range from as normal as remote-sensing instruments orbiting the moon and collecting data from above to the bizarre firing of burrow sensors into Europa's icy surface to study the moon closely, inverse.com reported.

Reports also have found that of all the concepts that were presented, the one that has been getting the most attention is the penetrator. The new technology is British-led and has already attracted the space agency's development money in the past. Airbus, which is a big European aerospace company, was responsible for the demonstration of what the technology is capable of doing.

In 2013, it shot a prototype into a block of ice to find out how the technology will perform at Europa. The result showed that the steel missile struck the target at 300m/s before coming to a full halt. "For a few milliseconds, it's quite a shock for the instruments," said Geraint Jones from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London. "300m/s is around 700mph. Yes, it's very fast, but some of the instruments have been tested at these speeds and they survived. They worked to take data after the impact and store it safely," he said.

The ESA will be making the final call about the various proposals at the end of the month. They have already a plan to visit Europa during the flyby of the Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) probe while making its way to the Ganymede moon. However, it won't get there until 2030.