NASA Announces Outerspace Ocean Exploration

Image Source and Courety SPACE X

In the near future -10 or 20 years from now students taking on Oceanographic Careers may find themselves studying not only the oceans of the Earth but Oceans of distant planet and moons. Events happening today will surely kick off the pages of these future Oceanographic books.

As promised 2015 will be one of the most exciting years for space exploration, oceans at home and in outer space celestial bodies are key in the new Space Era.

In the first weeks of February 2015 two inspiring news broke international press. NASA official announcement for the exploration of Europa -moon of Jupiter and its inner ocean and SPACE X steps forward in the development of technology for the new Space Era.

International press reported on February 2nd on the announcement made by NASA administrator Charles Bolden during the State of NASA Speech. NASA -organization with agenda to place humans in Mars revealed that they are now selecting projects to probe Jupiter's moon Europa. Scientific investigations strongly suggest that the moon of Europa holds an inner ocean beneath its icy surface. NASA believes that the best place to find extraterrestrial life today is in the oceans of Europa. In 2015 NASA received a boosting in its government Budget.  

Private-public alliances is proving to be of great importance in the history of space exploration. Private space companies have been competing over the past years with strong focus on private space exploration, satellite launching, satellite management, design and rocket and reusable rocket technology. As 2015 starts SPACE X proves to be way ahead taking lead with important new breakthroughs. Success once again comes in hand of the unexpected and the unimaginable.

On February 10th Space reported that SPACE X will have a "busy day". The company through their programs is focusing on reusable rockets, ocean recovery, ocean platforms and teaming up with NASA and NOAA -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

SPACE X aims to deliver in 2015 a reusable rocket not only capable of becoming space-borne but equipped for ocean landing.  The system is potential candidate for future space exploration missions and outerspace ocean exploration.

NASA explains that the ocean of Europa is suspected to home two or even three times as much liquid as the Earth does. Through space satellite investigations and observations, probes and unmanned technology NASA has been able to identify new objectives of interest. The Ocean of Europa is now top priority, what follows is Mars -also suspect for holding water sources.NASA investigations signal that water could be as common element in space (planets and celestial bodies) as it is on Earth -rising new hopes for the finding new life forms.

NASA Orion -the new spacecraft designed to take humans beyond the moon and its splashdown late 2014, the Space Launch System, reusable rockets and private teaming is how NASA answers the questions on how to explore distant environments.

NASA, NOAA, the U.S. Air Force and SpaceX teamed up for the DSCOVR mission which will carry a satellite designed to study space weather and its impact on Earth. The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. SPACE X is also taking on splashdown operations under its Dragon system which delivers goods and cargo to the International Space Station.

SPACE X still faces the challenge of making a full successful ocean recovery for its Falcon 9 system. SPACE X aims to use a drone-ship test in its effort to develop fully and rapidly reusable rocket technology.

SPACE X projects range from the Falcon Heavy -designed to carry humans into space, the Falcon 9 -reusable rocket and the  Dragon -a tested and operation free-flying spacecraft which delivers both cargo and people to orbiting destinations,

Space recently communicated that their robotic Dragon capsule is headed back to Earth after spending one month attached to the International Space Station. "Dragon will splash down in the Pacific Ocean..., where a recovery ship is standing by to retrieve the capsule,” the company communicated.

Media report that SPACE X has 17 potential rocket launches scheduled for 2015, and plenty of opportunity to get the ocean recovery right.

NASA continues to focus on the Hidden Ocean of Europa. ”The paucity of large craters argues for a surface age of only 60 million years, implying that Europa is still geologically active. Tidal flexing and nonsynchronous rotation of the floating ice shell generate stresses that can fracture and deform the surface to create Europa’s troughs, ridges, and bands. Europa’s astonishing geology and astrobiological potential make it a top priority for spacecraft exploration,” NASA states.

“The ocean is one of the most mysterious places of our planet, even today amazing life forms are discovered in the depths of our waters, supporting extreme temperatures,” Oceanographists have already began comparative studies.

NASA decade long dreams of further ambitious exploration are becoming every day more tangible and moving incredibly fast. As if awakening NASA is already looking into the instrumentation which the spacecraft Europa Clipper may carry. Deep acoustic radar, sonars, mapping devices, infrared icea-water scanners, high definition cameras, NASA now teams up with the ocean sector on Earth to study oceans in outer space.