James Wray's Europa on the ropes

[james_davis_nicoll]

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.

-- 2010: Odyssey Two
Arthur C. Clarke wrote these words three decades ago, when Europa's uniqueness as a potential alien habitat was first realized. Unfortunately, we have obeyed this fictional command.

Partly that's because Europa's surface is a terrible place. We often say this about Mars, but Europa is worse in practically every way. It is over three times farther from the Sun, and so receives ten times less sunlight. As a result, while a warm day near the Martian equator can exceed 0°C, Europa is at best 140 degrees below. Whereas Mars has less than 1% of Earth's atmospheric pressure, Europa's "atmosphere" is a billion times more rarefied. Neither provides much protection from ultraviolet or particle radiation, but at Europa the bombardment of charged particles from elsewhere in the Jupiter system leads to crippling radiation doses that accumulate millions of times faster. All of these factors make Europa's surface a difficult place for spacecraft (or life) to operate

Comments

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

Yes, but how much better would Mars be if we turned Deimos into a small sun?

[dbdatvic.livejournal.com]

Picky picky picky!

--Dave, if life had ASKED to be born on Europa it might not have gotten to be there. Luckily it didn't get to ask.