Decision Tree Assessment of Challenging Technologies for Mission to Europa

The intriguing possibility that conditions exist that could support the evolution of life, as we understand it, in the ice-covered oceans of Europa makes the exploration of that Jovian moon a significant priority in NASA’s solar system explorations. There is a need, therefore, to develop and demonstrate technologies and scientific methodologies that could be used to explore these extreme subice realms with the goal of establishing whether or not some form of life has evolved. A NASA search-for-life mission to Europa would involve site reconnaissance, site selection, landing, deep drilling through ice, small autonomous submersibles traversing the purported sea under the ice, and in-situ life detection. Many advanced technologies not currently available would be required. Identification and rank ordering of enabling technologies in a portfolio that can be developed for a certain specified research and development budget is crucial for mission success. This paper describes the results of utilizing a decision...