Jovian Europa Orbiter
Encyclopedia
The Jovian Europa Orbiter (JEO) was a feasibility study by the European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

 for a mission to Jupiter's
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...

 moon Europa
Europa (moon)
Europa Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and probably has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This surface is striated by cracks and...

. JEO would be capable of collecting information about Europa by orbiting it, and would correspond with the Jovian Relay Spacecraft (JRS) and the Jovian Minisat Explorer (JME).

The Jovian Europa Orbiter is part of ESA's "Technology Reference Studies", which was superseded in 2007 by ESA's "Cosmic Vision" which includes the Europa Jupiter System Mission
Europa Jupiter System Mission
The Europa Jupiter System Mission – Laplace was a proposed joint NASA/ESA unmanned space mission slated to launch around 2020 for the in-depth exploration of Jupiter's moons with a focus on Europa, Ganymede and Jupiter's magnetosphere...

.

The JEO should not to be confused with the Jupiter Europa Orbiter
Jupiter Europa Orbiter
As a part of the Europa Jupiter System Mission , the Jupiter Europa Orbiter is a proposed orbiter probe slated for lift-off in 2020 and planned for detailed studies of Jupiter's moons Europa and Io as well as the Jovian magnetosphere...

 which is part of the Europa Jupiter System Mission
Europa Jupiter System Mission
The Europa Jupiter System Mission – Laplace was a proposed joint NASA/ESA unmanned space mission slated to launch around 2020 for the in-depth exploration of Jupiter's moons with a focus on Europa, Ganymede and Jupiter's magnetosphere...

 or with Europa Orbiter
Europa Orbiter
The Europa Orbiter was a planned NASA mission to Jupiter's Moon Europa, that was cancelled in 2002. Its main objectives included determining the presence or absence of a subsurface ocean and identifying candidate sites for future lander misions....

, a NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

mission to Europa which was canceled.
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