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NASA's Europa mission takes another step toward reality
NASA's current plan for exploring Europa has just passed its first major review, proving that it's feasible, unlike any of the previous ideas the agency's scientists cooked up. America's space agency has been developing mission ideas for Jupiter's moon for years and even considered sending a lander to the satellite as recently as a year ago. Its scientists also once thought of sending a spacecraft to orbit Europa, but they ended up having to scrap that plan: the moon is bathed in Jupiter's radiation, which would quickly kill any vessel that's constantly exposed to it. So, instead of a lander or a Europa orbiter, NASA will send out a spacecraft in the 2020s designed to orbit Jupiter itself.
