NASA is toying with the idea of landing on the potentially life-supporting moon of Jupiter in the near future.
Mike Wall of Space.com reported that the NASA has already mapped out their goals for the possible landing which could lead to breakthrough discoveries on the giant planet's moon, Europa.
According to the report, possible robotic landing missions are being mapped out to determine the composition and chemistry of the subsurface ocean of Europa. The mission also aims to determine the thickness and dynamics of Europa's ice shell, which could answer questions whether or not the moon could be a candidate to host life beyond Earth.
Robert Pappalardo, the lead author of the study, strongly believes that the proposed mission is highly relevant, but he admitted that a lot of preparation is needed to turn the ambitious project into reality.
"If one day humans send a robotic lander to the surface of Europa, we need to know what to look for and what tools it should carry. There is still a lot of preparation that is needed before we could land on Europa, but studies like these will help us focus on the technologies required to get us there, and on the data needed to help us scout out possible landing locations," said Pappalardo, who is a member of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Pappalardo added that the Europa lander should be capable of drilling up to four inches in order to collect relevant samples that will help them determine the composition of Europa's oceans. One of the proposed ideas is having a payload that has integrated mass spectrometer, Raman spectrometer, magnetometer, multiband seismometer, site imaging system, microscopic imager, and reconnaissance imager.
"This model payload is meant as a proof of concept representing the range of possible instruments that could be used to investigate Europa," Pappalardo said of the suggested model payload.