Then Ricky’s Robot carefully closed the rocket ship. With one mighty toss, the Robot sent the ship sailing safely back to Jupiter.
from Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs.
the Jurassic Jackrabbits from Jupiter
written by Dav Pilkey
illustrated by Dan Santat
Scholastic, Inc., 2014
(read on Libby 10/5/24)
In the real world, mighty robots like Ricky Ricotta’s do not fly rockets to Jupiter (or anywhere else), although since 1958, NASA has “overseen more than 1,000 uncrewed missions into Earth’s orbit or beyond.”
This Thursday’s lift off of NASA’s Europa Clipper has been postponed due to the expected landfall and massive cleanup Hurricane Milton will leave in his wake. Milton is expected to reach the Tampa area Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
When the Europa Clipper launches for Jupiter in a couple of weeks, it will join the ranks of uncrewed NASA missions. Its task is to investigate whether Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, is capable of supporting life. Scientists have discovered strong evidence of an ocean of liquid water under Europa’s icy surface. Here’s a link to the mission’s preview page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij1wOLJE_g8
Europa itself is about the size of our own moon. It was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. The Europa Clipper is not NASA’s first trip to Jupiter. From 1995 to 2003, NASA’s spacecraft, Galileo, discovered strange pits and domes on Europa. Some of them have since formed into ridges over 300 feet high. Scientists point to this as evidence that Europa’s ice layer, up to 15 miles thick, may be slowly churning. The denser, colder ice sinks and the lighter, less dense ice rises as it warms from heat generated by Europa’s core.
Even though Europa has a scant amount of oxygen in its atmosphere, scientists using data from the Hubble Space Telescope found evidence that Europa might be “actively venting water into space.”
In November 2019, an international team headed by NASA researchers announced that water vapor had been detected above Europa’s surface. The Europa Clipper will fly through the plumes and analyze their contents.
The Clipper will travel for five years to reach Europa, 1.8 billion miles from Earth. Several more years will be spent doing over 50 flybys, getting within 16 miles of the icy surface. As stated on space.com, the Europa Clipper will gather critical information “to investigate whether the conditions on Europa can support life.”
It is widely thought in the scientific community that for life to exist, water, chemicals, and energy are necessary.
Though the probability of water on Europa is extremely high, the Europa Clipper will verify that. Certain chemicals such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, must also be available. Astrobiologists, scientists who study the origin and future of life, believe the right chemicals are present on Europa, too. Europa Clipper will try to verify that, too.
Every form of life, from single cells to cetaceans, requires energy to survive. On Earth, we use energy from the sun. But if there is life on Europa, it would live in its ocean where the liquid water is, but where the sun’s energy won’t reach. Scientists propose that chemical reactions will support any life that might exist.
That’s a fascinating thought.
One important human trait is our ability to think. As soon as kids can form the word, they ask “Why?”
About everything.
We wonder what the Big Bang sounded like and why life slithered out of the muck.
We wonder how water flows like magic from our kitchen taps and how music taps into our emotions.
Poetry is memorable not only because of the words a poet uses. We remember a poet’s words because of how we feel when we read them.
Since we humans are always trying to attach meaning to events, Ada Limon, America’s Poet Laureate, was asked to compose a poem for the Europa Clipper. NASA gave her three parameters:
The poem is engraved on the side of the Europa Clipper. It is a tribute to Ada Limon, to poetry, and to the quest for knowledge that helps humans find the drops of water that unite us all.
You can hear her read her poem on NASA’s YouTube’s page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgWbeDNPD6o
I’m still reading The Goldfinch. Next up for me is Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2024). The Goldfinch is long, so … I’ll get to Lula Dean when I get there.
from Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot vs.
the Jurassic Jackrabbits from Jupiter
written by Dav Pilkey
illustrated by Dan Santat
Scholastic, Inc., 2014
(read on Libby 10/5/24)
In the real world, mighty robots like Ricky Ricotta’s do not fly rockets to Jupiter (or anywhere else), although since 1958, NASA has “overseen more than 1,000 uncrewed missions into Earth’s orbit or beyond.”
This Thursday’s lift off of NASA’s Europa Clipper has been postponed due to the expected landfall and massive cleanup Hurricane Milton will leave in his wake. Milton is expected to reach the Tampa area Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
When the Europa Clipper launches for Jupiter in a couple of weeks, it will join the ranks of uncrewed NASA missions. Its task is to investigate whether Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, is capable of supporting life. Scientists have discovered strong evidence of an ocean of liquid water under Europa’s icy surface. Here’s a link to the mission’s preview page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij1wOLJE_g8
Europa itself is about the size of our own moon. It was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. The Europa Clipper is not NASA’s first trip to Jupiter. From 1995 to 2003, NASA’s spacecraft, Galileo, discovered strange pits and domes on Europa. Some of them have since formed into ridges over 300 feet high. Scientists point to this as evidence that Europa’s ice layer, up to 15 miles thick, may be slowly churning. The denser, colder ice sinks and the lighter, less dense ice rises as it warms from heat generated by Europa’s core.
Even though Europa has a scant amount of oxygen in its atmosphere, scientists using data from the Hubble Space Telescope found evidence that Europa might be “actively venting water into space.”
In November 2019, an international team headed by NASA researchers announced that water vapor had been detected above Europa’s surface. The Europa Clipper will fly through the plumes and analyze their contents.
The Clipper will travel for five years to reach Europa, 1.8 billion miles from Earth. Several more years will be spent doing over 50 flybys, getting within 16 miles of the icy surface. As stated on space.com, the Europa Clipper will gather critical information “to investigate whether the conditions on Europa can support life.”
It is widely thought in the scientific community that for life to exist, water, chemicals, and energy are necessary.
Though the probability of water on Europa is extremely high, the Europa Clipper will verify that. Certain chemicals such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, must also be available. Astrobiologists, scientists who study the origin and future of life, believe the right chemicals are present on Europa, too. Europa Clipper will try to verify that, too.
Every form of life, from single cells to cetaceans, requires energy to survive. On Earth, we use energy from the sun. But if there is life on Europa, it would live in its ocean where the liquid water is, but where the sun’s energy won’t reach. Scientists propose that chemical reactions will support any life that might exist.
That’s a fascinating thought.
One important human trait is our ability to think. As soon as kids can form the word, they ask “Why?”
About everything.
We wonder what the Big Bang sounded like and why life slithered out of the muck.
We wonder how water flows like magic from our kitchen taps and how music taps into our emotions.
Poetry is memorable not only because of the words a poet uses. We remember a poet’s words because of how we feel when we read them.
Since we humans are always trying to attach meaning to events, Ada Limon, America’s Poet Laureate, was asked to compose a poem for the Europa Clipper. NASA gave her three parameters:
- the poem needed to relate to the Europa Clipper mission
- it must be understandable to readers as young as nine years old
- she could use no more than 200 words
The poem is engraved on the side of the Europa Clipper. It is a tribute to Ada Limon, to poetry, and to the quest for knowledge that helps humans find the drops of water that unite us all.
You can hear her read her poem on NASA’s YouTube’s page. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgWbeDNPD6o
I’m still reading The Goldfinch. Next up for me is Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2024). The Goldfinch is long, so … I’ll get to Lula Dean when I get there.
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