(7)     Mon 5 May 97 18:57
By: KEITH MORGAN
To: ALL
Re: NASA rules out sending a probe to Europa to find life.
St:
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@EID:81ed 22a59720
@MSGID: 1:109/572 D3F14760
         NASA RULES OUT PROBE TO JUPITER’S ICY MOON EUROPA
                The Orlando Sentinel  April 25, 1997

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - two weeks after crowing about "mind-
blowing pictures" of possible life-sustaining oceans on Europa, NASA
officials decided Jupiter's icy moon wasn’t worth the trip.
     In what space experts called a strange decision, NASA on Wednesday
passed over two proposals to send probes to Europa.
     Two Europa missions were part of 34 proposals submitted to NASA for its
Discovery Program, which is the agency's project to fund "lower-cost, highly
focused scientific spacecraft." NASA on Wednesday chose five projects as
finalist for funding.
     Projects to study Mercury, Venus, solar wind, comets, and Mars' moons
were picked as finalist. NASA eventually will fund one or two of the
proposals.
     "It's kind of a strange decision," said American University astronomy
professor Richard Berendzen, who two weeks ago appeared on "Nightline"
with NASA officials to rave about the latest Europa photos taken by the
Galileo space probe.
     When the photos were revealed April 9, NASA astronomer Richard Terrile
said, "These are really mind-blowing pictures. How often is an ocean
discovered?" Berendzen said the photos meant Europa had the three main
ingredients for life: water, hydrocarbons and energy.
     But NASA spokesman Doug Isbell said Europa Proposals "just didn't
make the cut."
n
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