An IAC 2019 Special Podcast – Searching for Life on Europa

Artist's rendering of NASA's Europa mission spacecraft. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Jupiter’s moon Europa appears to have a salt water ocean. This excites scientists at it opens up the possibility there may be life. The Europa Clipper mission will try to gather more evidence to substantiate the theory.

Europa has fascinated us since Galileo discovered it in 1610. In popular science fiction, Sir Arthur C. Clarke made it the centre piece of his novel 2010: Odyssey Two which was published in 1982. Odyssey Two was a follow-up to the original and classic 1968 movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick.

This weeks SpaceQ podcast is the last of our coverage from the recent international Astronautical Congress in Washington. It is plenary 6, Europa Clipper: Making a Mission to Understand Our Place in the Universe.

Europa is slightly smaller than the Earth’s moon but scientist think it could have twice as much ocean water as the Earth! Today’s podcast will provide insight into Europa and NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. It should also be noted that the European Space Agency is also sending a mission to Europa, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission.

It is hoped that one day we’ll send a lander to the surface of Europa.

The panel is moderated by Dipak Srinivasan, Europa Clipper Telecommunications Manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

The panelists include:

  • 7:03 – Robert (Bob) Pappalardo,Europa Clipper Project Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  • 15:39 – Karen Kirby, Europa Clipper Deputy Project System Engineer, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  • 22:12 – Jennifer Dooley, Europa Clipper Project Systems Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • 30:19 – Thomas Magner,  Manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
  • 38:16 – And Bill Nye, The Planetary Society.

We’ve edited the recording to keep the podcast within a reasonable length.

Listen in.

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About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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