Europa Jupiter System Mission – Laplace
Proposed joint NASA/ESA mission to explore Jupiter's icy moons.
The Europa Jupiter System Mission – Laplace (EJSM-Laplace) was a proposed joint NASA/ESA uncrewed space mission for in-depth exploration of Jupiter's moons, focusing on Europa, Ganymede, and Jupiter's magnetosphere. It would have comprised at least two independent elements, NASA's Jupiter Europa Orbiter and ESA's Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter, for coordinated studies. The mission was slated to launch around 2020 but was not realized.
Quick Facts
- Operator
- NASA; ESA
- Mission duration
- Cancelled
- Launch mass
- Jupiter Europa Orbiter / 1,371 kg / 3,023 lb; Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter / 957 kg / 2,110 lb
- Launched
- 2020
- Launch rocket
- Jupiter Europa Orbiter
- Delta IV Heavy
- Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter
- Ariane 5
Facts from the source article.
Origins
In February 2008, NASA and ESA began joint investigations into an Outer Planet Flagship Mission to study icy satellites of the outer Solar System. Two primary candidates were considered: EJSM and the Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM). In February 2009, NASA/ESA gave EJSM priority over TSSM. The ESA contribution still faced funding competition from the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and the International X-ray Observatory, so NASA kept a contingency plan for a stand-alone project.
Mission architecture
The EJSM/Laplace study proposed collaboration with multiple orbiters and landers. NASA's Jupiter Europa Orbiter would study Europa and Io; ESA's Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter would study Ganymede and Callisto; JAXA proposed the Jupiter Magnetospheric Orbiter to study Jupiter's magnetosphere and the Jupiter and Trojan Asteroid Explorer for a Jupiter trojan. The baseline architecture consisted of JEO and JGO, launched in 2020, to explore the Jupiter System before orbiting Europa and Ganymede. The goal was to determine whether the Jupiter system harbors habitable environments, focusing on characterizing subsurface oceans, ice shells, internal structure, exospheres, plasma environments, surface compositions, and surface features.
More in Space Probes of ESA, Japan, China, India and the USSR
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