Episode 550: Exploring The Icy Moons of Jupiter. NASA's Europa Clipper and ESA's JUICE

Mars is the place that most of our spacecraft, landers and rovers are studying, searching for any evidence that life ever existed somewhere else in the Solar System. But talk to planetary scientists, and they’re just as excited about the ocean worlds of the Solar System; the moons, asteroids, dwarf planets and Kuiper Belt objects where there could be vast oceans of liquid water under thick shells of ice. The perfect environment for life to thrive. We’ve only had tantalizing hints that these oceans are there, but NASA is building a spacecraft that will study one of these worlds in detail: the Europa Clipper. And they’re not the only ones. The European Space Agency is building their own mission, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. Our Book is out! https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Today-Ultimate-Viewing-Cosmos/dp/1624145442/ Audio Podcast version: ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/universe-today-guide-to-space-audio/id794058155?mt=2 RSS: https://www.universetoday.com/audio What Fraser's Watching Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbJ42wpShvmkjd428BcHcCEVWOjv7cJ1G Weekly email newsletter: https://www.universetoday.com/newsletter Weekly Space Hangout: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0-KklSGlCiJDwOPdR2EUcg/ Astronomy Cast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHI67dh9jEO2rvK--MdCSg Support us at: http://www.patreon.com/universetoday More stories at: http://www.universetoday.com/ Twitch: https://twitch.tv/fcain Follow us on Twitter: @universetoday Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/universetoday Instagram - https://instagram.com/universetoday Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / frasercain@gmail.com Karla Thompson - @karlaii / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEItkORQYd4Wf0TpgYI_1fw Chad Weber - weber.chad@gmail.com References: https://europa.nasa.gov/about-europa/ocean/ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/galileo/overview/ https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6772 https://europa.nasa.gov/about-clipper/instruments/ https://spacenews.com/europa-or-enceladus-if-nasa-switches-from-sls-to-falcon-heavy-it-wont-have-to-choose/ https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7122 https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP00/20190522/109552/HMKP-116-AP00-20190522-SD002.pdf https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/without-champion-europa-lander-falls-nasa-s-back-burner https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/10/18075556/jupiter-moon-europa-lander-nasa-john-culberson-midterms-life https://newatlas.com/europa-giant-ice-spikes/56704/ http://sci.esa.int/juice/49837-juice-assessment-study-report-yellow-book/# http://sci.esa.int/juice/50068-science-objectives/ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/ganymede/in-depth/ http://sci.esa.int/juice/61415-arianespace-and-esa-announce-jupiter-icy-moons-explorer-launch-contract/