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.

Comments

Re:Shame

[narcberry]

Based on what we do (don't) know, I'd say we can learn a lot more from Jupiter than Europa.

Our understanding of Jupiter and other gas giants is really lacking. The only hope of discovery of any kind on Europa is life. But that is a really small chance, and therefore a very big gamble compared to the large set of questions we know will be answered by starting to explore Jupiter.

Re:Shame

[LithiumX]

...or just possibly NASA hasn't forgotten that their mandate includes far more more than chasing after the tantalizing hope of extraterrestrial life.

Most of the researchers there are certainly interested in the potential for life, but ultimately the "possible signs of life" banners are there to keep people interested. I'd love to see more of my tax dollars go towards probing every single body in this system - not to look for what may be useful decades or centuries later, but just to see what's there - which usually gives more interesting results.

Some day, maybe within our lifetimes, a probe will be sent to a nearby star, regardless of how many years such a mission would take. That mission will be expensive, and it will require public support. The ideal pitch is that it would be our very first foray to another star - a significant event in human history in itself. Judging by the past few decades, though, they'll have to resort to "Could There Be Life At Centauri" or similar talk. Sometimes it takes sci-fi dreams to get most people to support basic science.