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Vertical Entry Robot for Navigating Europa (VERNE)
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The goal of the Vertical Entry Robotic Navigation of Europa (VERNE) mission is to explore the
ice shelves and water reservoirs of Europa in support of the search for signs of life. Europa is
widely regarded as one of the best candidates in the solar system for finding past or present signs
of life. As new technologies are matured over the coming decades, this type of mission becomes
possible. It is the goal of this mission concept study to establish a vehicle and mission architecture
that maximizes the likelihood of overall mission success from landing to end-of-life. This study will
highlight modern day technologies that will enable the mission to be completed as well as highlight
technology gaps that need to be filled before this type of mission will be fully possible. This mission
concept study is being performed for the Subsurface Access Mechanism for Europa (SESAME)
program [5]. Under the terms of this concept study, VERNE will already have been provided with
the necessary support to proceed from launch to landing on Europa. Once landed, the probe will
travel toward the under-ice water reservoirs, conducting life finding science and geochemistry
measurements both along the way and at the ice-ocean interface. This is highlighted in the
Mission CONOPS Diagram shown in Figure 1. This mission will be the first of its kind, so novel
architecture and new subsystem designs are a necessity.