Are we finally on our way to Europa?

Beneath Europa's icy shell, it is thought a liquid ocean exists, potentially supporting complex organisms. Click to enlarge this image. 

  NASA

NASA CONSIDERS 7-DAY MISSION TO EUROPA
After six-year journey, probes would have a week to assess conditions for life on Jupiter's ocean-bearing moon.
By Irene Klotz Fri Dec 16, 2011 02:34 PM ET
Discovery News

THE GIST 
>The low-cost mission would send two landers to Europa.
>Spacecraft would be designed to compete their studies in a week, though they may be able to work longer. 
>Europa has a liquid ocean beneath its icy shell and is a prime candidate for life beyond Earth. 

In the search for life beyond Earth, few places beckon as strongly as Europa, an ocean-bearing, ice-covered moon circling Jupiter. But how to pull off the mission, given today's tight science budgets and competing missions, such as a sample return from Mars?

A team of scientists may have the answer: Send a pair of landers directly to Europa and design the mission to last just seven days.

 ...Radiation shielding adds to a spacecraft's size and cost.

The National Research Council's recently released study to prioritize planetary science for the next decade estimated a mission to Europa at $4.7 billion. An alternative mission, unveiled at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in San Francisco this month, would cut mission costs down to less than $1 billion. It features a pair of landers that would launch in 2020 and fly directly to Europa to assess the moon's suitability for life. They would be designed to...

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