num_pages: 264
description: Europa Lander Science Definition Team Report presents theintegrated results of an intensive science and engineering teameffort to develop and optimize a mission concept that wouldfollow the Europa Multiple Flyby Mission and conduct the first insitu search for evidence of life on another world since the Vikingspacecraft on Mars in the 1970s. The Europa Lander missionwould be a pathfinder for characterizing the biological potential ofEuropa’s ocean through direct study of any chemical, geological,and possibly biological, signatures as expressed on, and justbelow, the surface of Europa. The search for signs of life onEuropa’s surface requires an analytical payload that performsquantitative organic compositional, microscopic, andspectroscopic analysis on five samples acquired from at least 10cm beneath the surface, with supporting context imagingobservations. This mission would significantly advance ourunderstanding of Europa as an ocean world, even in the absenceof any definitive signs of life, and would provide the foundationfor the future robotic exploration of Europa.
language: English
title: Europa Lander Science Definition Team Report
publisher: NASA