I agree that this list could start floating away on rivulets of Mars water, and in any case, I would do well to temper my sarcasm.
The relevance for Europa is primarily political, in my view. JIMO is currently parked in an odd place in NASA's reorg - does this bode well or ill? I can't tell; I wish I knew. Maybe that's just the most survivable position for it while the dice are still tumbling. JIMO probably can't be pulled off without nuclear-electric propulsion, and there are those in the activist community - notably Zubrin, ironically a nuclear engineer - who want to scramble to Mars ASAP, even if that means relatively conventional chemical rocketry. Personally, I don't see JIMO in conflict with other agendas, unless you're very impatient - if anything, the spin-off from JIMO would enable other agendas. However, a single-minded focus on Martian water, and the lure of missions based on a supposed historical superabundance of water on Mars, could lead to spending priorities that yield less bang-for-buck in the long run, for everybody. And in the long run, baby boomers retire in the U.S., baby boomers retire in Japan, the Japanese government starts cashing in its U.S. government securities position to cover massive deficits and rising entitlements, oil runs out all over the world, and money gets as scarce as water on the surface of latterday Mars. If evidence comes, conclusively and soon, for large bodies of water on Mars, with little or no White Mars scenario in the developing picture, then that changes everything, no question in my mind. What I don't want to see is scrambling major Mars missions on false premises, through a collection of existing technologies, only to go through disappointment in the end. After all, I'm an Apollo Baby. Been there. Done that. Want to see better. In my lifetime. I would even settle for seeing 'better' at least *starting* to happen before I die. A serious gander at Europa plays more to that wish at this point, as far as I'm concerned. For all my posturing about scientific objectivity, that's a bias, I admit. I'm also biased toward underdog theories that still seem plausible, and White Mars is standalone attractive to me for that reason. At the moment, those two confessed biases don't seem to be in conflict. So I'm going with them. -michael ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Foust" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 1:55 AM Subject: ADMIN: on-topic reminder > > A gentle reminder that the purpose of this mailing list is the > discussion of Europa, not Mars. There are far more appropriate fora > for the discussion of Mars-related topics than this mailing list. The > relevance of Mars exploration with respect to future missions to Europa > would be on topic, but outside of that context is not. > > Your anticipated cooperation is greatly appreciated, and will make it > easier for me to continue to maintain this mailing list. > > Sincerely, > Jeff Foust > list administrator > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > == > 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/
