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Russia to Search For Life on Europa

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the there-sure-are-none-here dept.

porkpickle writes "Russia plans to participate in a European mission to investigate Jupiter's moon Europa and search for simple life forms. The head of the Space Research Institute, Lev Zelyony, said a project to explore the giant gaseous planet Jupiter would shortly be included in the program of the European Space Agency (ESA) for the years 2015 to 2025."

10 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Watch out for monoliths by CambodiaSam · · Score: 5, Funny

    Aren't they a bit behind schedule? I thought this was going to happen in a couple years.

    Oh wait, that wasn't a documentary was it...

    1. Re:Watch out for monoliths by plover · · Score: 4, Funny
      Sure, the aliens tell us "ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE", and which moon is the first one the Russians are heading for? Exactly.

      At least they can't say they weren't warned.

      --
      John
  2. Not sure how this fits... by explosivejared · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey go for it, we should all support going into space as this planet is screwed.

    Everyone knows that in Soviet Russia, mother nature screws you... so that sort of environmentalist talk is uncalled for.

    --
    I got a catholic block.
  3. Nasa Needs Outside Competition by StCredZero · · Score: 4, Interesting

    NASA needs outside competition. Otherwise, they just devolve to being a big pork-barrel project for Houston Texas and defense contractors. Outside competition got us to the moon. Maybe it will get us to Mars and Jupiter?

    1. Re:Nasa Needs Outside Competition by mathfeel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I say, let them land. This country needs another Sputnik to remind us that the rest of the world's S&T will still go forward while we "debate" such items as ID v.s. evolution.

      --
      The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the 'social sciences' is: some do, some don't
    2. Re:Nasa Needs Outside Competition by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

      Just claim you found life there, the males looking like tentacle monsters and the females like schoolgirls, and the Japanese will be ready to launch in less than 2 years. :)

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Err, waitaminute... by Penguinisto · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Wasn't there some sort of Internationally-recognized moratorium about landing on Europa, for fear of potential bacteriological contamination?

    Forget the Arthur. C. Clarke meme... I'm speaking as in a for-real 'we ain't going there yet' agreement that space-faring nations had agreed to, at least until they can come up with some sort of exploration set-up that can search for life there without risk (or at least an acceptably minimized risk) of contaminating the underlying ocean with Earth-borne bacteria.

    I could've sworn that there was something in place to that effect... sort of the same reason why the Russians held off from their efforts to drill all the way down to Lake Vostok in Antarctica.

    /P

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  5. Contamination by hyades1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Everything I've seen so far indicates it will be incredibly difficult and expensive to thoroughly decontaminate a spacecraft in order to ensure that Earth-based organisms don't "piss on the Petri Dish". The Russians are notorious for cutting corners, and their prime motivation for this exercise is political. The chance that they'll spend the extra millions of dollars to ensure the sterility of a Europa lander is non-existent.

    I see a serious potential for compromising what appears to be one of the better spots in the solar system to look for extraterrestrial life.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
    1. Re:Contamination by rilister · · Score: 5, Informative

      whoah there! 'fraid you've been misled by the lousy headline. If you'd got to the story synopsis, you'd see it was a *European* mission, which Russia is contributing to. It's called 'Laplace' (a curiously French name for a 'Russian mission', huh?) and will be launched by the ESA - European Space Agency in 2015ish.

      Now how much you trust those dirty Europeans is a different matter...

      --
      'This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it' - Eeyore
  6. Re:Finally someone is sane by CheshireCatCO · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, it's looking for fruit in a fruit tree where the fruits are *high*. Europa, while the best extra-terrestrial candidate for bearing life at present, requires some serious radiation shielding on any spacecraft going there, a fairly expensive landing, and a *lot* of work to bore through 1-10 km of literally-rock-hard ice. The probability of finding a viable ecosystem is balanced against the great difficulty to get to it.

    As I recall, a recent NASA study said that they can't do it for under $1 billion (US); actually, I think that they found that they couldn't even do a decent orbiter for under $1.5 billion, let alone a lander or a submarine probe. (Warning! This is only my recollection from presentations 6 months ago.)