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New "Juno" Mission To Jupiter Announced
Riding with Robots writes "Today NASA announced it is officially proceeding with the Juno robotic mission to Jupiter. Scheduled to launch in August 2011 and reach the largest planet in 2016, the spacecraft will orbit the planet 32 times, skimming about 4,800 kilometers over the planet's cloud tops for about a year. The mission will focus on Jupiter's structure and evolution, and not on Europa or the other icy moons that may hide oceans under their surfaces — a disappointment if you ask me. Then again, all planetary missions so far have turned up amazing images and surprising scientific discoveries, and I doubt this expedition will be any different." We discussed NASA's deliberation of its short list a few days back.
... or what the spiders call "Phase III" of the Grand Plan.
That wouldn't work, even with shades the sunlight would be too bright. Plus it would be too hot.
Obviously all life on the sun would have to be nocturnal.
If this is the level of Slashdot humor now, I can only pray that there's never a NASA mission to Uranus.