I am so angry right now I could smash all my technology

[Baclava]

how did I miss this?

Hubble Space Telescope sees geysers on Jupiter’s moon Europa

SAN FRANCISCO — The search for life in the solar system took a turn with the announcement that Europa, a moon of Jupiter first discovered by Galileo, shows signs of water geysers erupting from its south pole.



The new observations by the Hubble Space Telescope represent the best evidence yet that Europa, heated internally by the powerful tidal forces generated by Jupiter’s gravity, has a deep sub­surface ocean. The hidden ocean has long been suspected, but scientists have never seen anything as dramatic and overt as plumes of water vapor more than 100 miles high.

If this finding holds up — the Hubble will look again, and scientists are already racing to re­examine data gathered years ago by NASA’s Galileo probe — it could provide a major boost to a much-discussed but still unapproved NASA robotic mission to explore the icy moon that circles Jupiter every 31 / 2 days.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/hubble-space-telescope-sees-geysers-on-jupiters-moon-europa/2013/12/12/b6f780ac-62c8-11e3-a373-0f9f2d1c2b61_story.html

[Ellipsis]

1. ...

[SomethingFishy]

2. First thing I thought of...

Just rewatched 2010 recently..

[Baclava]

4. A fly-by would be OK with me

Economics, water plumes to drive Europa mission study

NASA plans to use funding proposed by the Obama administration to narrow concepts for a billion-dollar mission to Jupiter's icy moon Europa, according to NASA officials eyeing a launch of the long-awaited probe in the mid-2020s.

The space agency's top planetary science official said the recent discovery of watery plumes erupting from Europa's south pole gives greater impetus to a mission there. It would provide researchers a chance to sample the moon's global ice-encrusted ocean without having to drill through its thick ice sheet, an endeavor which would inevitably drive up the mission's cost and complexity.

NASA's Galileo spacecraft surveyed Jupiter and its moons, including Europa, from 1995 to 2003. But scientists say they are better equipped now to build a mission focused on Europa to return better results, and for less money, than Galileo.

The $15 million in the White House's fiscal year 2015 budget request marked for the Europa probe would be added to the $155 million already appropriated by Congress in 2013 and 2014 for early work on such a mission.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1403/14europa/#.U9L3Xv10zIU

[Ellipsis]

6. Okay ...just stay out of the craters

...Oh and bring desert.

[Baclava]

7. I say we fly a probe right into the hole

no drilling needed

we have the technology

[Ellipsis]

9. beautiful image.

[bluedigger]

3. Europa?

Damnit! Too slow again.

[Baclava]

5. Water is life

yea verily

[LuvNewcastle]

8. How I would love to go up there and take a look at that geyser!

Imagine what a 100 miles high geyser would look like on Earth.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. Keep in mind that the discovery of ANY life of a non-earth origin will,...