PAST AND FUTURE EXPLORATION
Although Europa hasn’t had the same close inspection as Enceladus, many spacecraft have made a flying visit of the moon as they use Jupiter’s enormous mass to provide a gravity assist, using the planet’s mass to slingshot to a faster speed. These visits began with NASA’s Pioneer 10 and 11 in 1973 and 1974 respectively. Afterwards came the two Voyager spacecraft in 1979, sending back pictures of Europa’s icy surface in stunning resolution. This began speculation that the moon had a subsurface ocean, gathering traction when NASA’s Galileo spent eight years at the Jovian system. This longduration study revealed a host of exciting new discoveries about Europa and its fellow moons.