Future Exploration Of Jupiter, Saturn Systems Coming Into Focus

The Jupiter and Saturn systems may contain the most likely places for extraterrestrial life in our solar system, and two meetings this week highlight the renewed international enthusiasm towards exploring these gas giants. ESA, NASA and JAXA are currently deciding on the next phase of the Cosmic Vision program. The 2 competing proposals are the Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) and the Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM). The potential science of these two missions will be reviewed at a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, UK on February 13. On February 9-13 in Moscow, Russia the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences will host the workshop 'The Europa Lander: Science Goals and Experiments.' At the workshop, specialists will discuss the scientific goals and technical aspects of the mission, key issues of Europa science with special emphasis on astrobiology, landing site selection, radiation protection issues, and possible cooperation with the EJSM. Europa (T), one of Jupiter's 60 plus moons, is believed to have a watery ocean beneath an icy crust. There are indications that the ocean occasionally wells up and washes over the surface making it a potentially active and chemically dynamic life-generating environment. Titan (B) orbits Saturn, approximately 1.2 billion km from the Sun, and has an average daytime temperature of -179 degrees C; yet it is one of the most active bodies in the solar system, with seasonal weather, lakes, river systems, and vast amounts of liquid hydrocarbons, the building blocks of life as we know it. (Credit: NASA, University of Arizona)

ISS E18 Crew Preparing To Receive Discovery STS-119

Having survived some recent turbulence due to a faulty rocket sequence, ISS E18 crewmembers Mike Fincke, Yuri Lanchakov and Sandra Magnus, are now preparing for this week's arrival of the Progress 32 cargo ship and the delayed arrival of the first shuttle mission of 2009. Progress 32 is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Feb 10, and then arrive at the ISS with its payload of supplies on the 12th. Originally scheduled for launch on Feb 12, Discovery STS-119 is now set to lift off no earlier than Feb 19. Discovery will deliver the S6 truss segment with the final set of power-generating solar arrays to the ISS. Commander Lee Archambault will lead Discovery's 7-person crew (B), along with Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillip, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata. 6-person crews will become the norm at the space station beginning in May with the arrival of the E20 crew. The Space Shuttle will continue to provide transportation for station crew members through May 2010. The ISS crew will then rely on the Soyuz until the Orion crew vehicle, and / or a NewSpace alternative, is ready to fly. NASA has no solid plans to utilize the space station after 2015, yet the International partners have recently made a verbal agreement to continue using the ISS until 2020. (Credit: NASA)