Weekly Recap

Wow, last week was insane. We had more visitors last week than we have ever had in a month, almost 1,000. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and I hope I can keep some of you around to learn a thing or two about Io. It was also a busy week in terms of posts thanks to the selection of the Europa/Jupiter System Mission as the next Outer Planet flagship mission. So let's take a look at last week in review:

• As I just said, the big news of the week was the Outer Planet Flagship mission downselection announcement. With the Europa/Jupiter System Mission selected, we can now look forward to the next 10 years of mission development and Io observations in the mid-2020s. Last week, we touched on the potential for Io science from ESA's contribution to the mission, the Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter. We also looked at an example of science the Jupiter Europa Orbiter would obtain while in orbit around Europa. This could include constraining the thickness of Europa's water ice shell (though some of these results, such as of Europa's tides with the Laser Altimeter, maybe limited by our knowledge of the satellite's deep interior).
• We also looked at press coverage of the EJSM selection.
  
• With EJSM approved, we took at look at how the downselection would effect the Io Volcano Observer proposal as well as the Io science questions that still remain.

This week should be a bit quieter than last week, obviously, as I really don't see any external news coming that will generate posts. However, I plan to post summaries of two papers posted on the Icarus website yesterday, including one covering HST observations of Io's atmosphere that I will be posting later today. The Gish Bar Times also turns one year old on Wednesday, so we might do something special for that :)

Roundup of News Articles about EJSM

Quite a few news articles have been posted online about the selection of the Europa/Jupiter System Mission as the next Outer Planet Flagship Mission. Many of these report on a telecon between NASA officials and a few members of the press yesterday about this announcement. Perhaps the most interesting new news from this telecon is that the flagship mission is currently not fully funded (though budget projection in the last year have taken into account the flagship mission), though according to Space.com, "NASA is setting aside about $10 million to continue studying design challenges for its Jupiter Europa orbiter."

• Russia, Europe and NASA explore ocean depths of Jupiter’s Europa from the Russian website Pravda. Looks like the Russians are continuing to push their desire to send a lander to Europa.
• It's all systems go for Europa from the Los Angeles Times. The article focuses a bit on the local angle via the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
• NASA Puts Money on Mission to One of Jupiter's Moons from the Washington Post
• Bold New Missions to Jupiter and Saturn Planned from Space.com
• Europa Selected As Target of Next Flagship Mission from Slashdot (yeah my first approved slashdot article)
• Europa wins next big planetary mission from Nature
  

Weekly Roundup

Well, the flagship mission downselection wasn't announced last week, but that doesn't mean last week wasn't quite busy as we took at look at several more LPSC abstracts and the more detailed reports for the Europa/Jupiter System Mission. So let's take a look back at the week that was at the Gish Bar Times for those who are just joining us:

• We took at look at six more abstracts submitted for next month's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. We saw how Jani Radebaugh's research group up at Brigham Young University have looked at the distribution of dark-floored paterae on Io and how that might relate to tidal heating models as well as temperature estimates of a few of the fainter hotspots seen in Cassini eclipse data acquired at the turn of the millennium. We saw how Julie Rathbun and John Spencer continue to delve into their ground-based observations of Io taken during the New Horizons encounter and this data puts the NH results in context. We saw how McDoniel et al.'s DSMC modeling of Ionian volcanic plumes have shown that even irregularly-shaped vents can produce roughly symmetric plumes (except for close to the vent) and plume deposits. Finally, we took another look at the Io Volcano Observer proposal and the proposal team's work to optimize their thermal instrument's bandpasses to best support Io science.
• The NASA/ESA Outer Planet Flagship Mission downselection panel meeting took place on Thursday, February 12. While the panel's decision (whether they picked one mission or passed the buck to yet another committee...) has not been publicly announced, the more detailed final reports for the different NASA and ESA components of these two mission were finally publicly released. The release of these reports has allowed me (and Van Kane over at Future Planetary Exploration) to report on the instruments and potential scientific return of these two missions. So far I have primarily focused on the possible science results at Io, particularly of JEO in general and by the Ice-Penetrating Radar in particular.

So what is coming up this week? Well, hopefully early this week the decision of the downselection panel will be announced, whether a mission has been selected, or as Van Kane has suggested could happen, the panel could pass this decision on to a scientific committee if the earlier panel can decide between the two based on budget or technological considerations. If the Titan mission is selected, I will discuss the options Io and Europa have moving forward. If the Europa mission is selected, I will discuss more about where the EJSM goes from here as well as more on Final Reports.

Weekly Recap

The first week of February proved to be quite a busy week for Io news, so here is a quick weekend recap for those who are just joining us:

• Abstracts for next month's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference were released on Friday. I summarized a few of the abstracts for some of the posters that will be presented at the conference, including a New Frontiers concept study, a global geologic map, and a regional map covering Shamshu and Hi'iaka.
• I discussed some of the common features seen at Io's mountains such as their degradation styles (like landslides and SO2 sapping) and relationships with volcanism.
• I processed a few more maps from individual Galileo orbits.
• I played around with the latest version of Google Earth and watched the Super Bowl (greatest game ever...until the last 10 seconds).

So what do I got cooked up for this week? Well, I still have at least six more LPSC abstracts to discuss here on the blog. The Outer Planet Flagship Mission Decision Meeting will take place on Thursday, February 12. If the downselection is published this week, certainly I will post my reaction to it.

Weekly Recap

This third week of January has proven to be quite a busy week for Io news, so here is a quick weekend recap for those who are just joining us:

• The Outer Planet Flagship Mission Joint Summary Reports were finally made available to the public. providing us with a chance to look at the final details of the Europa Jupiter System Mission and to examine possible science opportunites at Io during the mission. The downselection between the two Flagship targets, Europa and Titan, has been delayed to February 12. In the run-up to the downselection, a number of organizations are voicing their opinion on which mission should be selected. Nature and Van Kane sided with Titan; I sided with Europa.
• A new paper was released covering modeling of Io's atmospheric collapse and recovery during and after an eclipse, respectively. I made a neat looking cartoon, if I say so myself.
• I wrote a length post on the Juno mission and the potential for Io science from that forthcoming mission.

This coming week, hopefully the more detailed reports covering the Jupiter Europa Orbiter and the Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter will be released. Also look for a nice post covering Io's tallest mountain, Boosaule Montes.

While I've been Away

Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks, here is a recap:

• The New Frontiers-3 Draft AO is now online. The Announcement of Opportunity states that following classes of mission proposals will be accepted: Aitken Basin Sample Return, Venus in Situ Explorer, Comet Surface Sample Return, Network Science, Trojan/Centaur Reconnaissance, Asteroid Rover/Sample Return, Io Observer, and Ganymede Observer. The cost cap has been set to $650 million in FY09 dollars and will be not be permited to use radioisotope power sources. This would make a potential Io Observer difficult, but NOT impossible due to the radiation environment at Io (I will get to why it isn't impossible in a later post). Despite the National Research Council's recommendation, the AO was not opened up to "all missions except to Earth and the Sun that fit within the budget and power source constraints," as Jim Green promised back in March.
• Van Kane has a great post comparing the virtues of the Saturn/Titan and Jupiter/Europa missions now vying for the flagship mission spot. I think Van hits the nail on the head here. I will post a similar recommendation post soon.
  

A few quick notes

Here are just a few quick news items:

• The final reports for the two Outer Planet Flagship teams, the Europa/Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) and the Titan/Saturn System Mission (TSSM), were due today. I have no idea when these reports will be available online, but both teams will be making the first of their final pitches later this week at the Outer Planet Assessment Group meeting in Tempe, Arizona. Presentations from that meeting should be available much sooner than the final reports, giving us a look at what the final missions will look like.
• The Wikipedia article Volcanism on Io will be the main page featured article. Yeah! This would make it the second article I had a big hand in molding to be the main page featured article (the other being Enceladus).
  

Quick News

Now that DPS is finished, we have hit a bit of a lull in the news cycle, but here are a few quick updates:

• The Volcanism on Io article on Wikipedia has now reached Featured Article status, applied to articles on the site that are considered its best work. This now makes two Io-related Featured Articles, as opposed to just one for Europa...
• October 20 has almost come and gone, and the abstracts for the AGU Fall Meeting are not online yet. I will post here when they are.
  

Daily Roundup of Amateur Observations of Io

As we begin the Autumn season here in the northern hemisphere, here is a brief look at amateur astrophotography of Io and Jupiter from the last few days:

• Hideo Einaga and Kenkichi.Yunoki captured several views on Saturday of Io transit across the disk of Jupiter along with the shadow of Io on Jupiter's cloud tops
• Sadegh Ghomizadeh nicely resolved Io with Jupiter and Io's shadow on the cloudtops of Jupiter last Friday
  

Restart - News since May

I am sorry for my long absence here on this blog. I am sure many of you are wondering what has been going on with Io lately so I thought I would finally give this blog a big of a kick-start. Rather than post long posts covering what has happened since May, I thought I would just provide a quick summary:

• NASA has pushed the downselection of the next Outer Planets Flagship Mission to February 2009 from this November. This will provide an opportunity for the community to digest the mission studies due from the two teams on November 3. In June, NASA removed the $2.1 billion cost cap in favor of a "sweet spot" strategy, allowing the study teams to determine a price that would provide the best science per dollar. This has increased the cost of both missions to around $3 billion.
• With respect to Io, "sweet spot" science for the Jupiter Europa Orbiter would include 3-5 Io flybys during a 24-33 month long Jupiter orbital phase. According to the above presentation, these missions would provide the first direct sampling of Io's volcanic plumes, which would indicate that they would try to target one, presumably Pele or Tvashtar. However, the "sweet spot" mission would not include a dust detector or an INMS-like instrument, which would provide crucial information on this regard. It would include a particle instrument, however.
• The next Outer Planet Assessment Group (OPAG) meeting will take place November 6-7 in Tempe, Arizona. Obviously, the Flagship missions will be an important part of the discussion, along with the Discovery & Scout Mission Capability Expansion program.
• The following papers have been published: The variation of Io's auroral footprint brightness with the location of Io in the plasma torus by Serio and Clarke in Icarus' September 2008 issue; Geologic mapping of the Zal region of Io by Bunte, Williams, and Greeley in Icarus; September 2008 issue; Spatially resolved SO₂ ice on Io, observed in the near IR by Laver and de Pater in Icarus' June 2008 issue; and Galileo observations of volcanic plumes on Io by Geissler and McMillan is in press in Icarus (eventually, I need to do a post on this article).

Back and Ready to Go

Sorry I haven't managed to post in a while, I guess I have been on pseudo-vacation for the month of June. Maybe not so much a vacation, I still worked on my Cassini projects, but I've been trying, during June, to not do work during the evenings and such when I would usually work on blog posts or other extra-curricular activities.

Now that I am back, I will try to get a few blog posts out the door over the next couple of days. First, there is a paper in press in Icarus on Io's plumes as seen by Galileo. Second, I want to talk about some of the updates with respect to the flagship missions. I might post the next update as a podcast as a way to make it easier to get this rather long update out to you faster. If any of you have some good audio capture and editing software you can recommend, let me know.

Highlights from the Past Week

A quiet week due to Tax Day on Tuesday (yeah, I procrastinated on that), but here are a few of the highlights:

• I processed the last few images (at least those not taken while Io was in eclipse) from the Galileo and New Horizons datasets. These include crescent images from New Horizons and a high-resolution mosaic over Tohil Mons, Radegast Patera, and Tohil Patera from Galileo.
• Other space news websites and magazines, such as Space.com and Aviation Week, covered the new Outer Planet Flagship mission reports.
• I posted the first in a series on internet resources on Io, this time covering Io on Google Books.

Highlights from the Past Week

A rather busy week, so here is the stories from the last week:

• Presentations from the OPAG Spring Meeting were released online. The presentations included details on the new Joint Science Definition Teams for the Saturn/Titan and Jupiter/Europa Flagship mission concepts and the Io Volcanic Observer, a possible Discovery-class mission using new Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators.
• I processed more Io images and posted them on my Images Website. These include Galileo images acquired during the I27 flyby (including Amirani, Zal, and Shamshu), New Horizons images, and Voyager images.
• Kilauea is still 'sploding.
• A new anti-radiation drug might make interplanetary manned spaceflight a little bit easier, but probably won't be the solution for living on Io.
  

Highlights from the last week

A much quieter week but here are the highlights:

• NASA's Outer Planet Assessment Group (OPAG) had their twice-annual meeting this week in Boulder, Colorado. Unfortunately, none of the presentations from that meeting are online yet, particularly the one on the NASA-ESA Jupiter/Europa Joint Science Definition Team. Hopefully, it will be in the upcoming week.
• I posted a few more mosaics from I24 and I27, including mosaics of the Amirani-Skythia-Gish Bar region, the Isum-Donar-Zamama region, and another of the Prometheus flow field.
• I played around some more with Celestia.
• Bush announced plans to send a manned mission to Io. Or was that a joke...
• I have a fever. The only prescription is more cowbell.
  

Highlights from the last week

From the last week, just in case you missed it:

• I confirmed just how much of a nerd I am by working with Celestia for three days trying to perfect an add-on for the Jupiter System.
• Alan Stern and John Mather left the Science Mission Directorate over at NASA HQ. Very unfortunate.
• I went over a couple of Io-related papers in the April 2008 issue of the journal Icarus. One covered the fate of impact ejecta from Io in the Jupiter system. The other covered laboratory spectra of polysulfur oxides and whether those materials can be found in Galileo NIMS spectra of Io.
• I uploaded a few mosaics I finished up on from Galileo's I24 flyby, including a nearly full-disk, clear-filter mosaic and a mosaic of the Amirani-Skythia-Gish Bar region of Io's leading hemisphere.

So what do we have to look forward to this week? At the very least, new details on the Europa/Jupiter JSDT should come out of the OPAG spring meeting starting tomorrow in Boulder, Colorado. I also hope to finish up on the I24 mosaics and move on to finish up on I27.

Highlights o' the Last Week

This week was surprisingly busy. Flagship Mission news. More images processed. Kiluaea fun. Oh My!

• As reported today, the results of a peer review of the NASA Outer Planets Flagship mission studies were posted online with Europa being the big winner and Enceladus being cut from consideration. The next round of studies will include ESA as partner for both a Titan mission concept and a combined Europa/Jupiter System mission concept.
• Kiluaea experienced its first explosive eruption this week after a solfatara was observed in the Halema`uma`u crater atop the volcano that has been active for 25 years.
• Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama, died this week at the age of 90.
• Several papers were published this week, including one on the Io footprint auroral glows on Jupiter.
• I started work on processing some of the scrambled images from I24, putting them together into mosaics that really have gotten wide circulation.
• Moses Milazzo had a party.
  

Highlights o' the Week

It has been a busier week than usual thanks the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference, quite a few images added to my Galileo Io Images website, and some news on the New Frontiers 3 front.

• Seven presentations on Io were displayed at a poster session on Tuesday night in League City, Texas. Overviews of each abstract and other LPSC news are collected here.
• I finished a large mosaic from Galileo orbit I27 covering the Chaac-Camaxtli region of Io. Both clear-filter and one combined with lower-resolution C21 color data versions are available.
• Reprocessing of images from E11 revealed two eruptions columns for a Prometheus-type plume at Kanehekili that I don't recall having been mentioned before.
• The Space Sciences Board released their recommendations for the slate of missions for the next New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity. One of the mission profiles recommended is an Io Observer. Such a mission would have to do its observations without RTGs as an energy source. This greatly limits the ability for an Io Observer to accomplish the scientific goals outlined by the SSB. This would make such a mission less attractive than the other mission profiles that can be accomplished just fine with solar power.

Enjoy the weekend! I got to get back to playing Halo 3 (yeah, I've gotten a little tired of playing Guitar Hero 3 for the time being).