Laplace-P (formerly called Europa Lander) was a proposed orbiter and lander by the

Russian Federal Space Agency The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

designed to study the Jovian moon system and explore Ganymede with a

lander Lander may refer to: Media and entertainment * ''Lander'' (computer game), computer game published by Psygnosis in 1999 * ''Lander'' (game demo), the 3D game demo provided with the Acorn Archimedes computer * Lander (Transformers), a fiction ...

. Initially proposed to launch with the European

Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is an interplanetary spacecraft in development by the European Space Agency (ESA) with Airbus Defence and Space as the main contractor. The mission will study three of Jupiter's Galilean moons: Ganymede, ...

(JUICE) in 2022, this was later changed to an independent launch on an Angara-A5 in 2023. The mission was cancelled due to a lack of funding in 2017.

History

The Europa Lander would have been launched in 2020s as part of the

Europa Jupiter System Mission Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Clif ...

proposed in 2007 by the ESA to study the Jovian moon system as well as the planet

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...

. The orbiter would have done several flybys of other Jovian moons before being placed in orbit around

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Clif ...

. The lander would have researched the ocean underneath the ice sheet of Europa. However, to avoid the damaging effects of Jupiter's radiation belts, the destination of the lander was switched in 2011 from Europa to Ganymede. Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System and has an

internal ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the worl ...

that may contain more water than all of Earth's oceans together. The orbiter would perform 13 flybys of Ganymede, and 4 flybys of Callisto and carry up to of scientific instruments, while the Europa lander would have carried up to of scientific instruments. Laplace-P was cancelled in 2017 to allow more funding for the Venera-D mission.

Concept

Laplace-P would be a dual mission featuring an orbiter (code name LP1) and a lander (code name LP2) to be launched together toward Jupiter. One spacecraft would orbit the moon Ganymede, while the lander would perform a soft landing on its surface. The "P" in Laplace-P stands for "posadka" (landing). The planned trajectory is to use the VEEGA (Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity Assist) route. Both spacecraft would be carrying about of scientific instruments each. The lander would be powered by an RTG, while the orbiter would be equipped either with an RTG or with

solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

s. If the lander is launched together with JUICE, then the Russian orbiter would be omitted due to JUICE filling its role. The advanced Russian project Laplace-P orbiter's objectives is to map the surface for lander. The main objective of the lander is to carry out remote and in-situ investigations of Ganymede's surface. The radiation conditions on the Ganymede surface are fairly benign. On the other hand, the Ganymedean

gravitational parameter In celestial mechanics, the standard gravitational parameter ''μ'' of a celestial body is the product of the gravitational constant ''G'' and the mass ''M'' of the bodies. For two bodies the parameter may be expressed as G(m1+m2), or as GM when ...

(''GM'' = 9887.8 km³/s²) makes the landing on it from the orbit more difficult than in the case of Europa.

Objectives

The main objectives of the mission would have been to study Ganymede's atmosphere, icy surface,

habitability Habitability refers to the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws it is said to be habitable. In extreme e ...

, and perform an in-situ search for

biosignature A biosignature (sometimes called chemical fossil or molecular fossil) is any substance – such as an element, isotope, or molecule – or phenomenon that provides scientific evidence of past or present life. Measurable attribute ...

References

{{Astrobiology Ganymede (moon) Russian space probes Missions to Jupiter Orbiters (space probe) Proposed space probes Proposed astrobiology space missions Roscosmos Cancelled space probes

History

Concept

Objectives

See also

References