Melting Europa

amigoro writes "After having contaminated Earth's Oceans, it seems that there are plans to send a probe drilling through Europa's ice sheet and explore the purported ocean below the crust. The plan seems to be to find Life there. But I wonder how long the time lag will be between the probe finding life, and a leak in the radioactive heater wiping all of it out."

Hmmmm.

[Sevn]

Hippy.

Cripes

[brotherscrim]

Do your arms get tired from hugging those trees that tightly?

Forget them

[Deraj DeZine]

I don't care if we mess up their planet, I hate those arrogant Europeans.

Re:Cripes

[jnicholson]

The big black monolith might get us if we do that!

STOP ALL EXPLORATION NOW

[IamGarageGuy 2]

In the name of saving the bind sea turtle, all travel in the Arctic ahould be banned and any knowledge that was gained from past explorations should be forgotten.

Relax. Europa's not going anywhere.

[YanceyAI]

1.But I wonder how long the time lag will be between the probe finding life, and a leak in the radioactive heater wiping all of it out. --It is so cold that it would melt and refreeze forever.

2. What next? Drill Sedna for oil?"--There must have been life for there to be oil, you insensitive clod! Oh wait, maybe that is why they're so desparate to find evidence of life elsewhere!

There isn't enough life ...

[jeabus]

on that rock to fill a space cruiser!

and i thought the terrorists hated us..

[aberant]

but it would be nothing compared to the hatred these radioactive, mutated, super alge would have.

Bottled water

[relaying denied]

That would be some expensive exclusive bottled water.

EXCEPT Europa

[thinkninja]

RTFM!

Now, a planet named after a miserable women who marries her father's dog is fair game...

Good idea..

[guiscard]

Lets get them before they evolve and get us...

Re:Cripes

[Kenja]

"Do your arms get tired from hugging those trees that tightly?"

Tired arms I can deal with, its the crotch splinters which are the real problem.

Re:Too funny.

[MalaclypseTheYounger]

Along the same idea: Near my Dad's house they are currently doing a lot of logging, so a lot of protestors have been seen in the area, damaging equipment, sabotaging trucks, etc.

So now there are signs up everywhere stating:

"NO TRESPASSING!
And if you are an environmental activist, try wiping your butt with plastic toilet paper!"

Reading comprehension problem

[Keith Russell]

What part of "All these worlds are yours, execpt Europa. Attempt no landings there." don't they understand?

Re:Talk about a weird week.

[rjamestaylor]

• In addition the moon probably gets way more raditation from Saturn...

That would be a neat trick, considering how close the Jupiter moon, Europa, is to, uh, Jupiter.

Re:Question...

[nberardi]

I think we should start spending more money on the search for intelligent life on earth, because this article poster contributes to the notion that their is none.

Re:Question...

[infinite9]

Who's more the troll, the troll or the troll who responds?

How Ironic

[jetkust]

But I wonder how long the time lag will be between the probe finding life, and a leak in the radioactive heater wiping all of it out

The same time it would take for a drill in your head to find a brain.

Re:STOP ALL EXPLORATION NOW

[Anonymous Coward]

any knowledge that was gained from past explorations should be forgotten.

Time to break out the flashy thing.

Re:It's Open Mic Night at the Astrophysics Lounge!

[Anonymous Coward]

>>I'd like to see the leaky probe that could rival Jupiter itself in bombarding Europa with radiation.

Yeah, but that's *natural* radiation, not the unhealthy manmade stuff.

Wait, I see a tree that needs a hug. See ya!

Oil on Sedna?

[Homology]

What's next? Drill Sedna for oil?

Oil on Sedna? On a dirty, utterly cold rock on the very edge of the Solar system? On a rock that even NASA hesitate to call a planet? Let me guess, you are the product of the US high school system with intellectual skills honed to perfection by watching Fox News?

NO! Don't do it!

[Lothsahn]

You could poison Europa's environment and possibly destroy any life down there!

...With DihydrogenMonoxide!

Think of all the DihydrogenMonoxide that would be released as a result of all this melting! It could be catastrophic!

Yet another example...

[travdaddy]

This is yet another example of why NASA should make more use of Ask Slashdot. We could have helped create a better rover AND saved Europa!

Re:and i thought the terrorists hated us..

[base2_celtic]

I, for one, welcome our new algae overlords.

Re:Forget them

[Anonymous Coward]

Their ancestors did a great job messing up this planet after all..

Re:Forget them

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah right, those goddamn Africans.

Re:Paranoia Check...

[Tailhook]

christ do you people sit around all day _LOOKING_ for ways to complain and be outraged?

Why, yes. Yes we do.

Please avoid further mentions of Western religious figures.

Thanks!

Re:Relax. Europa's not going anywhere.

[sameyeam]

There must have been life for there to be oil, you insensitive clod! Oh wait, maybe that is why they're so desparate to find evidence of life elsewhere!

Evidence! Evidence! Since when did that stop Bush on his quest for more oil! *grunt-grunt*

Geez, did you see the SIZE of that probe?

[Anonymous Coward]

That probe looks huge! What is that, revenge for all the anal studies the little green men have been doing to humans all these years?

Re:The ice may be a lot thicker than we thought...

[sTalking_Goat]

The thickness of the ice sheet may well be such that getting to the ocean below (assuming there is one) could turn out to be impractical, even using heat.

Thats what bunker busters [fas.org] are for...

It was self defense

[ChaosDiscord]

But I wonder how long the time lag will be between the probe finding life, and a leak in the radioactive heater wiping all of it out."

Hey, I've got intelligence that shows that those microbes could evolve into sentient tool using creatures then develop and deploy weapons of mass destruction in a mere million years. If we wait to know for certain the first warning may be a mushroom cloud on Earth. Can we take that risk? We have to strike first!

MESSAGE BEGINS

[Daniel Quinlan]

All These Worlds Are Yours Except Europa. Attempt No Landing There. Use Them Together. Use Them in Peace.

Radiation is WHAT?!

[clustermonkey]

Help! Help! I'm covered in rediation! Get it off!.....

...What? What do you mean sunlight is radiation?


They'll always fear what they can't understand.

Re:Relax. Europa's not going anywhere.

[RobertB-DC]

Dinosaurs on Sedna? I think they'd just fly off, there couldn't be enough gravity on a rock 2000meters wide to hold down those "gentle giants"

First, for fans who came to the game late: the quote "What next? Drill Sedna for oil?" was in the original version of the story, but was removed after a few minutes. This is known in the business as "closing the barn door after the cat is out of the bag and turning your butt into hamburger."

Anyway, back to the oil. This story [space.com] about Sedna's discovery points out that the planet(oid) is very dark and very red. Don't forget the far-out but plausible theory that Earth's hydrocarbons came from comets [harvard.edu], not dinosaurs.

Now imagine... what if Sedna is a big ball of frozen, red transmission fluid [aamco.com]? I see NASA getting some new funding for KBO research real quick!

Re:But the point is...?

[AEton]

landing a spacecraft on Europa, where we have little knowledge of its atmospheric conditions, will be a formidable challenge.

Like killer aliens terraforming the universe? I swear those eggheads can't read:

ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE
USE THEM TOGETHER
USE THEM IN PEACE

Preventing contamination by crashing Galileo

[illumnat]

One of the reasons given for crashing Galileo into Jupiter was to prevent contamination of Europa...

From CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/09/21/galileo.c rash/

To prevent the chance, however small, of any surviving terrestrial germs on Galileo from contaminating Europa or its sibling satellites, NASA decided to crash the craft.

Now the Germans want to send a radioactive probe to Europa? That won't contaminate anything will it... What happens when the probe eventually fails. What happens when the probe gets torn apart by the ice it is burrowing through?

Yup... We're going to be battling radioactive superbugs from Europa!

Re:Hmmmm.

[Garridan]

Monoverbojudgementalist!

Umm... look! It's an elephant!
*zing*

The real reason for the search for life on Europa

[gradualstudent]

Since NAFTA has been such a smashing success, the government is looking for new places to send American jobs. A moon of Jupiter seems like a good place to start: not too far from home, no organized labor, no pesky Judeo-Christian holidays to hamper production. Outsourcing at its finest!

W're gonna stick a penis in it!

[scorp1us]

Did you see that probe thing? Looks like a diant dildo. We get to a moon, and the first thign we do is have sex with it. (Yeah, we drilled the moon too)

The male sex drive is at least as big as the solar system.

I'm just glad we have no plans to do it yo Uranus.

Re:Polluting other planets

[wolf-]

And here I thought God's plan was for mankind to have dominion over creation. (Genesis 1:26,28)

That and to have sex and multiply...

Re:Cripes

[velo_mike]

Tired arms I can deal with, its the crotch splinters which are the real problem

Err, it's hug, not hump, it's a common mistake...

Re:Biased Poster?

[levik]

Yeah, really... And it's not like the Europeans are even on the endangered species list...

Geez....

Re:Preventing contamination by crashing Galileo

[Frennzy]

Are you suggesting that coconuts are migratory? Oh..wait...that's not what I meant.

Are you suggesting that NASA plans on intentionally creating radioactive superbugs with 16 claws and 8 eyes, that can code in C++ and will work for small additional amounts of radiation?

Great. Just great. Now I'll never be able to retire.

Radiation is not our worry!

[kakos]

As many have pointed out, I don't think we have to worry about radiation since Europa is in Jupiter's radiation belts.

However, what we do have to worry about is the primitive fish-like people of Europa worshipping our probe like a god! Think of the cultural havok we could wreck on their primitive society!

Re:How Ironic

[Anonymous Coward]

Dr. Peter Venkman: Egon, this reminds me of that time you tried to drill a hole in your head.

Dr. Egon Spengler: That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me.

All things considered, I'm more worried about the pre-previous poster trying to emulate Dr. Spengler's experiment than a radioactive probe screwing up Europa. If there is any life present they already have a high tolerance for radiation. People get awfully hysterical about these supposed "man-made" sources of radiation. We can't hold a candle to the fields of Jupiter. I don't support dumping all of our rad-waste on Europa where there may be life as our own moon is lifeless and much closer.

I am curious as to how they plan to keep the hole thawed after it breaks through to the ocean below. Seems to me that the upwelling water would freeze in the hole and lock the probe in place.

Re:Now how do they expect to land a probe on ACID?

[Sgt_Jake]

And here I was thinking about how hard it would be to land a probe on ACID. I mean, you have to consider music selection, who's with you, how paranoid you should be, whether the bats with the glowing red eyes are real enough to worry about without looking like your insane by ducking randomly... I personally react badly with acid, so I'd have to say it would be pretty tough.

Re:Cripes

[mahdi13]

The big black monolith might get us if we do that!

Only if we're lucky...it might evolve these Trolls into Gnomes. Not nearly as annoying, Gnome use real facts when posting about "Radioactive heaters"

Re:Polluting other planets

[ultramk]

Yes, but did you see her naked? That's all that matters.

Only on /. would this comment get modded "+4, Insightful"

m-

Re:It's Open Mic Night at the Astrophysics Lounge!

[shigelojoe]

Look at Earth. We detonated atomic bombs both above and below the ocean surface, spraying tons of transuranics into our seas and atmosphere. It may have sucked to have been a coral at Bikini Atoll in the 50s, but the ecosystem didn't even blink, and in fact, the Atoll is one of the planet's greatest recreational diving sites.

Especially convenient is the fact that after a few hours of diving there you grow your own flippers.

I keed, I keed.

Re:Hmmmm.

[OS24Ever]

No, no, no, no. You got it all wrong.

Say it with me now.

DAMN HIPPIES!

Re:Paranoia Check...

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, like John Wayne, Henry Fonda.

Re:Forget them

[osu-neko]

Yes, Europeans hate Americans because they think Americans think they're superior to Europens. Americans hate Europeans because they suspect Europeans know they're superior to Americans. And around it goes...

Better be careful

[JediTrainer]

I hear that Europa is full of dihydrogen monoxide [slashdot.org]

Re:EXCEPT Europa

[ReverendLoki]

Hmm.. now, is that RTFM for _M_anual, or _M_onolith?

Read what you write...

[Gorimek]

water (and so ice) can stop radiation quite effectively

Yeah, but that also means that a world like Europa that may be made up almost entirely of water, and has much more water than all the oceans of Earth put together, has to be extremely immune to radioactive damage.

I don't know why envrionmentalists aren't happer that NASA is removing radioactive material from this planet. I mean, a lot of people complain about it, but only NASA is actually doing something about it.

Re:Polluting other planets

[The Lynxpro]

"Guess what, we humans, as a race, own everything in the solar system. It is ours to do with as we see fit... other planets are being wasted until we make full use of them for humanity as a whole."

I think the Annunaki would have a problem with your logic. However, since they need to return all that gold they pilfered from Earth, I guess they cannot speak on such a subject with any moral authority.

Reminds me of a joke

[MacDork]

When Jane initially met Tarzan of the Jungle, she was immediately attracted to him, and during her questions about his life, she asked him how he had sex.

"Tarzan not know sex," he replied.

Jane explained to him what sex was.

Tarzan said, "Oh... Tarzan use hole in trunk of tree."

Horrified, she said, "Tarzan you have it all wrong, but I will show you how to do it properly." She took off her clothes and laid down on the ground. Here" she said, "you must put it in here!"

Tarzan removed his loincloth...stepped closer with his huge manhood and then gave her an almighty kick right in the crotch.

Jane rolled around in agony for what seemed like an eternity Eventually she managed to gasp for air and screamed, "What in the Hell did you do that for?!"

"Tarzan check for bees."

Re:Biased Poster?

[rupert2000]

Hey, that article was completely Fair and Balanced

Re:Biased Poster?

[versionthirteen]

I think that everyone should stop flaming this poster for bringing up a valid point. How much is knowledge worth. Are we destorying the things we wish to study b/c of our irreverence for the lives we hold in our hands? Besides, you should really be making fun of how that probe looks like a giant metal wang.

Re:Sedna, Sedna, Sedna ...

[VivianC]

... what is it, 'lets all talk about Sedna' week in America, or something?

It is big news in the election year over here. John Kerry claims that the leaders of Sedna have secretly endorsed him!

Re:EXCEPT Europa

[C32]

Respect The Fucking Monolith

Question for the Poster.

[rpj1288]

Did you remember to put on your tinfoil hat before you posted that? Remember, they're always watching!

Re:Paranoia Check...

[Hao Wu]

christ do you people sit around all day _LOOKING_ for ways to complain and be outraged?

They are called liberals.

Re:But the point is...?

[SEWilco]

(We've lost many Mars-intended missions due to that.)

'Many' is a very odd spelling of 'possibly one'.

He must have been including his own fleet of probes.

Re:Hmmmm.

[Dorothy 86]

is it just me... or does "Melting Europa" sound like a bad Lifetime movie?

The Monolith

[vivin]

Man, the monolith is not going to like this.

Re:It's Open Mic Night at the Astrophysics Lounge!

[Alsee]

If there is anything down there on Europa, it will probably eat the nuclear leakage for dinner and come back for seconds.

Umm, if something from Europa shows up asking for seconds, I'm sorta worried about what it's going do when we run out of nuclear sludge to feed it.

-

Re:Polluting other planets

[Anonymous Coward]

"Only on /. would this comment get modded "+4, Insightful"

That is because /. is the only forum that uses a moderation system like +n adjective .