Where in the World is Europa

 

Instead of flying to Europa without first testing what a mission there might experience, now a number of sites on Earth — and beyond — that mimic the Jovian moon are being uncovered that could help explorers conduct trial runs.

Missions to Mars such as the Mars Exploration Rovers were exhaustively field-tested in "Mars Yards" — areas whose terrain mimicked the red planet. In much the same way, researchers would like to rehearse missions to explore Europa using analogs of that moon on Earth... 

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