Europa Clipper will launch in 2022 on a mission to survey Jupiter’s sixth moon. However, a follow-on lander mission was conspicuously missing from the budget and media reports suggested that it had been cancelled. Not to worry, the Europa Lander is a personal favorite of John Culberson, Chairman of the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Appropriations subcommittee which oversees NASA’s funding. I have found him to be deeply informed on the science, engineering requirements and cost constraints of space exploration. Finding a safe and scientifically valuable landing site is the first prerequisite to a lander mission.

Source: Forbes April 16, 2017 01:41 UTC