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LAPLACE: A mission to Europa and the Jupiter System for ESA's Cosmic Vision Programme

Drossart, Pierre; Hartogh, Paul; Sotin, Christophe +40 more

The exploration of the Jovian System and its fascinating satellite Europa is one of the priorities presented in ESA’s “Cosmic Vision” strategic document. The Jovian System indeed displays many facets. It is a small planetary system in its own right, built-up out of the mixture of gas and icy material that was present in the external region of the …

Interstellar heliospheric probe/heliospheric boundary explorer mission—a mission to the outermost boundaries of the solar system

Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.; Valtonen, Eino; Wurz, Peter +4 more

The Sun, driving a supersonic solar wind, cuts out of the local interstellar medium a giant plasma bubble, the heliosphere. ESA, jointly with NASA, has had an important role in the development of our current understanding of the Suns immediate neighborhood. Ulysses is the only spacecraft exploring the third, out-of-ecliptic dimension, while SOHO h…