{"id":774853,"date":"2023-11-30T22:56:49","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T03:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=774853"},"modified":"2023-11-30T22:56:49","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T03:56:49","slug":"should-we-send-humans-to-europa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=774853","title":{"rendered":"Should We Send Humans to Europa?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>Universe Today<\/em> recently examined the potential for sending humans to the planet Venus despite its extremely harsh surface conditions. But while a human mission to the clouds of Venus could be feasible given the environmental conditions are much more Earth-like, a human mission to the second planet from the Sun could be (at minimum) decades away. With NASA sending humans back to the Moon in the next few years, and hopefully to Mars, what if we could send humans to another planetary body worth exploring, though it could have its own harsh environmental conditions, as well? What about Jupiter\u2019s icy moon, Europa? It has a massive interior liquid ocean that could harbor life, and NASA is currently scheduled to launch its Europa Clipper spacecraft to this small moon in October 2024, arriving at Jupiter in April 2030. Therefore, given the exploration potential, should we send humans to Europa?<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-164586\"\/><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Humans Could Live On Europa | Unveiled\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MiYm2F3K68o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, while I find Europa fascinating, sending humans there is a terrible idea,\u201d Dr. Alyssa Rhoden, who is a Principal Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, tells <em>Universe Today<\/em>. \u201cThe radiation environment can kill off a robotic lander in a few hours to days \u2013 with shielding! \u2013 so anything\u2026 fleshy\u2026 is going to have a very rough time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As previously discussed, Venus has searing surface temperatures and crushing pressures, making a human surface mission next to impossible. However, you can escape this harsh environment by traveling a few tens of kilometers higher. In contrast, Europa\u2019s surface is constantly bombarded with intense radiation from Jupiter\u2019s massive magnetic field, but you can\u2019t escape it by slightly increasing your altitude. This is why every spacecraft that has explored Jupiter and its large moons, including NASA\u2019s upcoming Europa Clipper spacecraft, has required intense shielding to prevent the electronics from burning up.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Colonizing Europa (Jupiter&#039;s Moon)\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2dXRAwjH3EA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Dr. Francis Nimmo, who is a Professor in the Earth &amp; Planetary Sciences Department at UC Santa Cruz, echoes Dr. Rhoden\u2019s sentiments, telling <em>Universe Today<\/em>, \u201cThe biggest problem with sending humans to Europa is the\u00a0radiation environment \u2013 it is extremely hostile. Even radiation-hardened spacecraft electronics have to be shielded inside a thick metal box in order to survive the Europa environment, so humans would be very unlikely to survive there for long enough to do anything useful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper mission will be exploring Europa, its orbital flight plan calls for the spacecraft to orbit Jupiter and not Europa to protect the spacecraft\u2019s hardware and electronics from Jupiter\u2019s intense radiation belts. Through this, Europa Clipper is slated to perform 50 flybys of Europa, coming as close as 25 kilometers (16 miles) of the icy moon\u2019s surface. But, like Venus, could human exploration be conducted in orbit around Europa, despite the harsh radiation?<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Can We Terraform and Colonize Europa (Jupiter&#039;s Moon)?\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WXzJDZPummU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAn orbital colony would fare better, if it could be positioned to avoid too much radiation, but it would still be a major logistical challenge,\u201d Dr. Rhoden tells <em>Universe Today<\/em>. \u201cAn orbiting colony of astronauts could provide (limited) ground support for ice shelling drilling projects and other short-term research excursions. And at least water retrieval would be easier! Overall, sending humans to Europa sounds exciting, but we have a long way to go before it\u2019s feasible and likely to provide more benefit than orbiting spacecraft, landers\/rovers, or autonomous drills.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But even if an orbiting colony could work, what about resupplies for food and water (if the latter can\u2019t be excavated from Europa)? With present propulsion technology, it takes spacecraft years to reach Jupiter from Earth while requiring multiple gravity assists just to slingshot their way to the outer Solar System. In contrast, future astronauts on the Moon would only have to wait a few days for a resupply mission. For Mars, astronauts might only have to wait six months if the positions of Earth and Mars were just right. All things considered, if a colony on Europa runs out of supplies, they might be doomed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Neil deGrasse Tyson Answers: Humans on Europa in Our Lifetime?\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/52_V1ZZ5smQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cObviously, a colony on Europa would require just as much external support for food and breathable air as other targets like the Moon or Mars,\u201d Dr. Rhoden tells <em>Universe Today<\/em>. \u201cBut on Europa, those externally supplied resources would be a decade away, and the external environment would be savagely attacking anything you put on the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Will we ever send humans to Europa? Will it be a surface or orbital mission, and what can we learn from doing it? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!<\/p>\n<p><em>As always, keep doing science &amp; keep looking up!<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded\" id=\"like-post-wrapper-24000880-164586-65695771bf76a\" data-src=\"https:\/\/widgets.wp.com\/likes\/#blog_id=24000880&amp;post_id=164586&amp;origin=www.universetoday.com&amp;obj_id=24000880-164586-65695771bf76a\" data-name=\"like-post-frame-24000880-164586-65695771bf76a\" data-title=\"Like or Reblog\">\n<h3 class=\"sd-title\">Like this:<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"button\"><span>Like<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"loading\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sd-text-color\"\/><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/164586\/should-we-send-humans-to-europa\/?rand=772204\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Universe Today recently examined the potential for sending humans to the planet Venus despite its extremely harsh surface conditions. But while a human mission to the clouds of Venus could&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":774854,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-774853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genaero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=774853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/774854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=774853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=774853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=774853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}