Topic: Europe selects Jupiter mission

[Simon]

The European Space Agency is to mount a billion-euro mission to Jupiter and its icy moons, launching in 2022.

The probe, called Juice, has just been approved at a meeting of member state delegations in Paris.

It would be built in time for a launch in 2022, although it would be a further eight years before it reached the Jovian system.

The mission has emerged from a five-year-long competition to find the next "large class" space venture in Europe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17917102

 

[Clive]

Sam will enjoy it!  I shall be a crotchety old man by then. Oh...wait!   

[Simon]

[sam]

Its a great mission. Shame though, there was an epic X-ray observatory up for selection. We will be missing a whole band of the sky in not too long - Chandra and XMM are getting rather old now. I have lots of friends who for their science X-ray astronomy is important, and to some extent my own, really shame. Though equally this is a cool project and will bring back some stunning results; its just a shame one had to be selected out of so many fantastic missions. Equally LISA is on hold and well that will be even more epic than the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

Talking about epic, what do you think of the setup I have for SKA software: http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrydude/6992494610/in/photostream