EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN WORLD OF EUROPA: THE NEXT CHALLENGE?

摘要

Except the Earth, a good candidate to find life in the solar system is Europa. After the development of powerful imaging systems for planetary exploration combining low power, low mass, wide temperature operation and high scientific return, the next challenge seems to be Europa exploration since it combines all the difficulties. The present imaging systems have been developed and selected for several exploration missions like MarsEx-press, Rosetta, Smart-1... Although the requirements for these missions are severe, a step further is needed for Europa mission in terms of power, mass, harsh environment. A micro-imaging system based on new high micro-technology developments could be implemented in the Europa lander to image the landing site and even below the surface to discover the deep unknown world of Europa ocean.