The Space Agencies NASA and ESA, have been mulling over a Jupiter System trip, since 2005.
Their mutual agreement to visit the Jupiter System, was announced the other day.
NASA and European Space Agency have agreed to combine their forces and visit the the Jupiter System, to explore two of its Moons
The NASA Orbiter will explore the icy shell of Europa, thought to contain an ocean capable of supporting life. With a possible landing, the cost is expected to be around $3 billion
The European Space Agency's Orbiter called LAPLACE, will go to Ganymede....the largest Moon in our Solar System. It has a unique magnetic field. Its cost has not been determined at this time.
The EUROPA JUPITER SYSTEM MISSION is scheduled to arrive in 2026
"I'm thrilled", says Robert Pappalardo, a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who has worked on Europa mission studies for more than a decade. "We've been working long and hard on this. It's the right place to go to understand the potential habitability of icy satellites."
Although the Europa mission was deemed more technically ready, NASA and the ESA, have not yet closed the door on a Titan mission. "Titan will not be forgotten" says Jim Green, director of the planetary science division at NASA headquarters.
http://opfm.jpl.nasa.gov/europajupitersystemmissionejsm/http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/20090218.htmlhttp://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=100Thoughts***
Remember- 'Odyssey Two' (2010) by Arthur C. Clarke? If only he were still alive to see another of his amazing predictions come true, and so near to his story dates as well. ..Wow.
