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Is Europa Too Prickly To Land On?

Posted by samzenpus on from the watch-your-step dept.

astroengine writes "A deadly bed of icy javelins — known as penitentes — could be awaiting any spacecraft that tries to land on some parts of the ice-covered world Europa, say researchers who have carefully modeled the ice processes at work on parts of the Jovian moon to detect features beyond the current low resolution images. If the prediction of long vertical blades of ice is correct, it will not only help engineers design a lander to tame or avoid the sabers, but also help explain a couple of nagging mysteries about the strange moon. 'This is a game changer,' said planetary scientist Don Blankenship of the University of Texas in Austin. Blankenship has been involved in NASA's planning process for sending a reconnaissance spacecraft and eventually a lander to Europa."

26 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Arthur C Clarke strikes again! by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Funny

    What part of "Attempt no landing there" don't you people understand?

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    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    1. Re:Arthur C Clarke strikes again! by durrr · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well if it's a spiky ice hell, then no wonder they told them not to attempt landing as that would only end in tears.

    2. Re:Arthur C Clarke strikes again! by JWW · · Score: 2

      What part of humor don't you understand?

    3. Re:Arthur C Clarke strikes again! by Mikkeles · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nuke the landing site from orbit! Next problem?

      --
      Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
    4. Re:Arthur C Clarke strikes again! by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 3, Funny

      What part of "Attempt no landing there" don't you people understand?

      No kidding. Jupiter has at least 66 other moons we can land on. But of course the only one we want to land on is the one that we're told not to. Of course "the prediction of long vertical blades of ice" in conjunction with the radiation and hazards of the trip itself make us want to go even more. It's kind of like telling a 3 year old "don't touch this".

    5. Re:Arthur C Clarke strikes again! by camperdave · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well if it's a spiky ice hell, then no wonder they told them not to attempt landing as that would only end in tears.

      Yes, and the last thing you want in your suit is tears.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  2. Obligatory by Lucas123 · · Score: 2

    "All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landing there. Use them together. Use them in peace."

  3. Problem solved by schneidafunk · · Score: 2

    They solved breaking up ice years ago. Send the titanic.

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
  4. Hmmm... by GeneralEmergency · · Score: 4, Funny

    .

    I, for one, suggest a low altitude detonation of a low-yield thermo-nuclear device at any potential landing sites prior to the landing attempt.

    This should glass over the LZ and let any locals know that papa's coming home and he's pissed.

    .

    --
    "A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
    GeneralEmergency
    1. Re: Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Unless of course it is ice, in which case you've just made a nice warm bath.

    2. Re:Hmmm... by istartedi · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just what we need. Another Europan war.

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      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    3. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Gaia is, and, has always been at war with West Europa

  5. Not so much *prickly* ... by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 2

    as just mean spirited, bureaucratic and bad tempered. Why else would we have been warned against landing?

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    Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  6. Is this what passes for geekdom these days? by sirwired · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I now expect at least Samzenpus (if not every Slashdot editor) to turn in their geek card, in addition to the submitter being banned from all further Slashdot submissions. How on earth (or in space) do you make a reference to landing (or not) on Europa and NOT put in a Clarke reference? What kind of geek are these people?

    1. Re:Is this what passes for geekdom these days? by guyniraxn · · Score: 2

      News for Nerds, not Geeks. You can keep the sci-fi, I'll take the sci.

  7. BOOM!, problem solved. by Thud457 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just drop a M-121 bomb on the LZ to clear things out before landing.
    Take that spacecommies!
    America, FUCK YEAH!

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:BOOM!, problem solved. by Gilmoure · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wouldn't this particular comment fully reflect the opinions of the JCS? Just sorta seems to be their thing.

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
  8. I'm Not A Rocket Scientist by Greyfox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And I don't want to tell them how to do their job, but has anyone considered making their space ship out of some sort of "metal"? And maybe put a thing on the bottom that shoots fire out of it?

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  9. Will it blend? by guruevi · · Score: 3, Funny

    I put ice javelins in my blender, add some fruit and there you go, a smoothie. So just mount some BlendTec blenders on the bottom of the spacecraft and see if it "will blend". Would be some nice advertisements.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  10. Stupid NSA by cyber-vandal · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm not surprised Europa is a bit prickly at the moment.

  11. Re:No, just tricky by cusco · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How about making the bottom of the craft an inverted cone? Then it can settle nicely in between the spikes.

    --
    "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
  12. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  13. mandatory by dutchwhizzman · · Score: 2, Funny

    Think Europa is prickly? Unless it's freshly shaven, how about Uranus? *badum tish* (gets his coat)

    --
    I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
  14. Re:Clarke by cusco · · Score: 2

    Well, as the third or forth mention of the same joke in the first couple of minutes I think that Redundant was rather just.

    --
    "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
  15. Zeus had no problem with it by darkHanzz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just saying...

  16. Re:Problem Solved... by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 2

    High latitude landings are energetically more demanding. Eats into your payload allowance, which means fewer instruments, which makes it harder to justify your mission against another Mars mission (for example.)

    --
    Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.