Missão conjunta ESA/NASA a lua de Júpiter

[JLRC]

ESA and NASA to Consider Joint Mission to Jupiter


(Source: Cordis News Service; issued March 15, 2005)


The United States has responded with interest to a suggestion by the European Space Agency of a joint mission to Europa, Jupiter's icy moon.

The two parties are keen to follow up the enormous success of the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan, and will establish a joint working group to consider the role that each side could play in a future Jupiter mission, according to reports.

Recalling the Cassini-Huygens mission, David Southwood, ESA's director of science, told the BBC: 'It was a beautiful marriage and we really are looking to do a repeat.' He added that 'Europe could do Europa on its own', but that cooperation with the US is extremely attractive.

Professor Southwood held preliminary discussions with his NASA counterparts in early March, and felt that he had 'definitely piqued their interest'. Negotiations are still at a very early stage, however, and any future mission would launch no earlier than 2016.

Many scientists place a high priority on a mission to investigate Europa. The smallest of the four Jovian moons discovered by Galileo in 1610, Europa is slightly smaller than the Earth's Moon, and researchers speculate that there may be hidden subsurface oceans harbouring micro-organisms.

-ends-

[Rui Elias Maltez]

Dadas as dificuldades orçamentais da NASA para arranjar substituto para a frotas de Shutle, e as eternas dificuldades orçamentais da Rússia o futuro da exploralção espacial passará obrigatoriamente por missões tendencialmente de cooperação entre Europa, EUA, Rússia e participação de outros países, como a China, Japão ou Canadá.

A ISS (estação Espacial) está extremamente atrasada no seu projecto de conclusão devido à paragem da frota de Shutle americanos e às dificuldades orçamentais do programa espacial russo.

Ainda assim a manutenção e rotação de tripulantes da ISS está sob a responsabilidade das naves Progresso russas.

Sem cooperação internacional até duvido que se possa assistir nas proximas décadas à tão almejada viagem tripulada a Marte, apesar da retórica dos políticos.