People believe that there is life beneath the surface of Europa because it is covered in ice, and some think there might be an ocean beneath it. Another moon which is thought to have life for the same reasons is Callisto.
The purpose of this is to identify whether these ideas are plausible, and, if so, the locations in which life is most likely to exist, and thus maps out a plan for future missions. There are two main parts: a multitude of instrumental packages on the surface of Europa, and a Central Communication and Processing Unit ( CCPU ) in orbit around it.
The instrumental packages will consist of several parts-
Accurate and exact seismograph, enabling us to find reasonable locations for hydro-thermal vents.
Accurate SONAR and/or RADAR sub-surface scanning devices that can measure density, and hence distinguish between water and ice, so as to find any liquid sub-surface water, as well as help find weaknesses in crust and ice shelves. Perhaps also to measure chemical composition.
An infrared sensor, as to distinguish between temperatures beneath the ice a fair distance away.
Central computer.
Radio, enabling it to communicate to other such packages in different locations, and compare the results, as well as to communicate to the CCPU in orbit around this Jovian moon.
Drill, which will have enabled the device to sink beneath the surface upon landing.
Instruments to ensure a safe landing.
Power source (preferably nuclear, due to the distance from the sun).
The purpose of these packages is to confirm and/or disprove the existence of a sub-surface ocean and/or separated water-pockets on Europa, hydrothermal vents, and henceforth conditions that would enable us to deduce whether or not there are livable conditions on Europa. In order to accurately plot such things as tremor locations, we will need more than one package in different locations. These locations should be an interest in itself, as everything, besides the drill and the central computer, should be double, with one extremely accurate yet short-range instrument, and another less accurate but which measures a far wider area.
As the accuracy of said instruments is, as yet, unknown, than it would perhaps be wiser first to calculate the number of needed locations. If they are to many, then perhaps we should find a different way to find the probability of life on this Jovian moon. If not, and after the specific locations have been found, it is also necessary to find the probability of a safe landing by of any one of these packages. It would be wiser to drop enough of the probes on each location as to ensure the safe landing of at least one. If, again, the number is to large, and the operation to expensive, we would be forced to find a different way to test the probability of life on this intriguing satellite.
It is also of vital importance that these probes know the location of their fellow counterparts, so that they do not take the heat or vibrations emitted by the other probes as a flase positive, or their density or chemical composition as a false negative.
If this operation is plausible, then it would be necessary to create a “mother-ship” to carry these probes to their locations. Once the probes had been dropped, the carriage compartments should be discarded (a safe distance from the probes, with the probes aware of this so that the impact does not falter the measurements), and the stripped-down mother-ship becomes the CCPU. It should also be equipped with a powerful-enough radio to contact Earth.
Measurements from this mission should provide the necessary information on where, how, and if there should be future missions to this Jovian satellite, perhaps which could drill deep enough to reach the areas with the highest probability of life-forms. Similar missions to Callisto could be plausible.
