Naturally I can't give away too much in the hopes that my first story will
be published, but try this: Suppose there was another planet in another star
system that needed...water. (Frank Herbert's Dune?) Europa has water under
its ice mantle. Wouldn't "mining," refining, storing, and transporting water
present some interesting challenges? What would be the possibilities of the
typical human motivation for commerce and profit? What if the inhabitants of
this other system also had a mercenary streak? And what about the human
elements? Living on Europa's ice mantle? What would that be like? How would
they measure time? How would the human circadian rhythms be affected by a
different planetary cycle? What is the gravity on Europa? Europa always has
the same face turned toward Jupiter, just like Earth's moon. What's on the
other side? The Galileo pics are helpful, but don't tell the whole story,
methinks.
OK, that's for starters. Am I dreaming, or what?
:-)
----- Original Message -----
From: Larry Klaes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 10:39 AM
Subject: Re: OK, OK, OK, Enough!
>
> I'm curious - what is being mined on Europa in your SF story?
>
> Larry
>
>
> At 10:16 AM 02/20/2001 -0800, Gail & Roberta wrote:
>
> >Well, I guess that's the price of getting to the show after the curtain
goes
> >up. Sorry if I sounded like such a dunce, but I really did just get
caught
> >up in what's really being done. I am trying to start a sci fi story
series
> >based on the moons of Jupiter, and the idea of mining Europa for whatever
is
> >there intrigued me. To gain some semblance of credibility, I started
> >searching the web for info, and found this site, plus the NASA site and
> >several others. Got lots of interesting info, and hope to get more. These
> >discussions show me how much I have to learn--as someone said long ago:
"The
> >more I learn, the more I realize how little I know." Please be patient
with
> >my ignorance--that can be cured!
> >:-)
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Bruce Moomaw <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: Icepick Europa Mailing List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 11:58 PM
> >Subject: Re: OK, OK, OK, Enough!
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Gail & Roberta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >> Date: Monday, February 19, 2001 8:49 PM
> >> Subject: OK, OK, OK, Enough!
> >>
> >>
> >> Haven't we milked this one dry already? What does all this have to do
with
> >> the possible exploration of one of Jupiter's moons anyhow? So Fox came
up
> >> with a stupid, but apparently entertaining show that no one in their
right
> >> minds would believe? Isn't sci-fi by it's very nature the same thing?
OK,
> >> forget I said that. I love sci-fi, I love to watch reruns of Star Trek
in
> >> all its permutations, even Babylon 5 is entertaining. But science? Naw,
> >and
> >> I don't even pretend it is.
> >> So let's get back to discussing Europa.
> >> When we land there, will we need flotation devices to float on the
> >possibly
> >> slushy ice? If we land on an ice island and want to drill through, will
> >the
> >> island drift so much that we'll lose our probes? Is there an
atmosphere?
> >How
> >> hot is the core? Lots more interesting stuff to speculate about than
some
> >> crap served up on TV, don't you think?
> >>
> >>
> >> The trouble is that this group has already long since chewed all that
over
> >> extremely thoroughly, throughout 1999 and 2000 (apparently before you
got
> >> here) -- and we're simply running out of specifically Europa-related
stuff
> >> to discuss. (Hopefully there will soon be some more of it, as I
recently
> >> noted.) That's precisely why many of us have moved over to Jason
Perry's
> >> "ISSDG" and "Jupiter List" chat groups, which deal with Solar System
> >> exploration in general.
> >>
> >> Regarding your questions: Europa's crust is solid ice and anywhere from
> >> several to several dozen km thick -- so we certainly don't need to
worry
> >> about floating on the surface or drifting on ice floes. It has an
> >extremely
> >> faint trace of atmosphere -- only a few hundred-millionths as dense as
> >> Earth's -- and we have a good idea of most of the gases making it up.
The
> >> core may or may not be hot enough to provide any volcanic vents at all
on
> >> the floor of the subsurface ocean, but most of that floor is certainly
> >near
> >> 0 deg C, just like most of Earth's ocean floor. (Europa's tidal
heating
> >> from Jupiter is only about 1/10 of Io's.) This still leaves a
tremendous
> >> number of interesting questions about the place, of course -- with one
of
> >> the most lively recent subjects being an increased feeling among
> >scientists
> >> that Jupiter's radiation may produce a disproportionate concentration
of
> >> nutrients and other biologically useful chemicals in the TOP few meters
of
> >> Europa's ice, and that these may both be slowly transported down into
the
> >> underground ocean, or nourish microbes in local pockets of near-surface
> >> water within the ice. (This, in turn, would mean that a productive
search
> >> for Europan life may not have to dig nearly as far down into the ice as
> >the
> >> originaly Cryobot would have -- but then, there was some feeling along
> >those
> >> lines anyway, since it's always seemed likely that long-dead but
extremely
> >> well-preserved Europan microbes may be preserved in the ice even near
its
> >> top.)
> >>
> >> Bruce Moomaw
> >>
> >> ==
> >> You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
> >>
> >
> >==
> >You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
> >
> ==
> You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
>
==
You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
