All Aboard for Europa!

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

When you are seventy-five, as I am, and regardless of your general overall health, you begin to sense that the curtain is slowly drawing closed on your final act.  Each spin around the sun leaves you older, not younger,  and you know that somewhere not too far down the pike is a termination date with your name on it.

My life has seen its fair share of ups and downs, but overall I feel that my time on the planet has been of a generally positive nature.  I'm proud of my children and their children, and I've put some effort into collecting and preserving the history of many of their ancestors.   I have had multiple careers, none of which generated much in the way of income and all of which were focused on making the lives of others better.  

And, through a combination of careful planning and occasional good luck I have been able to get out and see much of the world and even managed to live overseas for two extended periods of time.  My only major travel regret is that I never made it across the equator to see the Southern Cross, but I am confident that one of my grandchildren will one day do that in my memory.

Up until yesterday I figured that my traveling days were just about over, but then, while typing the daily blog and listening to NPR for background noise, I happened to hear a mention of NASA's Message in a Bottle program, and I was drawn into some research.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will be launching an exploratory probe to Jupiter in October of next year, and it will have a primary mission of recording data on Jupiter's icy moon, Europa.  The space voyage will take about five-and-a-half years with the vessel, dubbed the "Europa Clipper," expected to enter Jupiter's orbit in April of 2030.   The spacecraft, as it orbits Jupiter, will be focused on Europa and will make fifty fly-bys of the icy moon trying to determine what lies below the frozen surface.  Scientists believe, based on the earlier mission to Jupiter by the "Galileo," it is likely a vast saltwater ocean roughly two times the size of all of the oceans on Earth.  If that is the case, the ocean of Europa could possibly have the ingredients for life - or perhaps life itself.  The "Europa Clipper," which will be equipped with an array of scientific measuring devices, will come within sixteen miles of the surface of Europa at one point in its series of fly-bys.

The aspect of the trip that the NPR report touched on yesterday was that the spacecraft to Europa will also be carrying a message from Earth, a poem by US Poet Laureate Ada Limon entitled "In Praise of Mystery:  A Poem for Europa."  The poem will be stenciled onto a metal plate and attached onto the outside of the spacecraft. Also on that plate will be a microchip the size of a dime  which will hold the names of people from Earth who wanted their names included in the project.  They will be stenciled onto the microchip in print that is approximately 1/1,000 the width of a human hair.

NASA decided to let any resident of Earth who wanted their names to be flown to Europa to be able to participate.  They put a sign-up link on the internet and invited people to get involved.  As of mid-November over 700,000 people had submitted their names, and the sign-up period is open until midnight on December 31st, so many more names will go along on the space odyssey.

Yesterday, after hearing the story on NPR, I googled "NASA Message in a Bottle" and was on the sign-up page within seconds - and within a few more seconds I had successfully submitted my name for the space ride.  I'M GOING TO EUROPA!  Well, my name is, anyway.  As this will undoubtedly be my last big trip anywhere, I would love to have some friends and family - and especially grandkids - join me for this long, leisurely cruise into deep space as we try to glimpse the edge of tomorrow.

All aboard!