Europa Report Page #2

really tough questions...

who are we?

Why are we here?

Where do we come from?

And... are we alone?

For a very long time,

Europe has seemed to be

just a solid sphere of ice.

But even just looking

at its surface,

there are clues,

you know?

There might be water

underneath the ice.

And then

in the fall of 2011,

scientists realized...

they released data

showing the presence

of sub-surface lakes...

of liquid!

And... wow!

Wherever we have found water...

we have found life.

But what

came next was, um...

Even more startling.

NASA discovered

heat signatures

under an area known as

the conamara chaos.

Well, they teased

the idea that...

that simple

mono-cellular life

in our solar system might

not just be possible,

it might be probable.

I wanna go to Europe

and go ice fishing.

Cut through the ice,

lower a submersible,

look around,

see what's there.

See what swims up to the

camera lens and licks it.

If life exists on Europe,

it will be

the single most profound

discovery

in human history.

Dasque to mission control.

Over.

We read you, Rosa. Over.

Data sync is live.

How's everyone holding up?

I think it's potato soup.

- Get something to drink.

- Dude, why...

why would you put garlic

into a space dish?

It's very rich.

- It's delicious.

- I have to say, though...

Okay, look look...

I've got another mile to go.

Not bad, eh?

What about after your run?

When are you gonna

actually call someone?

None of your business.

Hey. It's time.

I should have learned

mandarin before we left.

- He's probably talking about me.

- Gun it.

One, two, one, two, one, two, one...

- How did you feel?

- I said yes

before the question

even sunk in.

They had to ask me four times

before I could even respond.

No trouble

on the ping requests.

We see a sticking valve

in v-tech.

Andrei is already working on a fix.

If it leaks anymore,

we'll isolate the manifold.

Oh, and we have a series

of fuse events

in Rosa's station.

Can you have the team on

duty investigate? Over.

Copy that.

But you might have it fixed

before we finish

the review.

You're making us feel

two steps behind.

Over.

You'll make him blush. Over.

Mission control, can you hear me?

Andrei is in the shower

right now,

so I want to take

this opportunity

to tell you that your shower

system is totally inadequate.

And I don't buy

your theories about

the body adjusting

to the new hygiene regime.

You know what

I can't adjust to?

The drinking of

the distilled urine.

Oh! James!

I'm just saying...

you're worried

about my smell

and you're

drinking my urine?

You know what I think

they're really pissed off about?

You guys only gave them

four outfits.

So sometimes they wake up

in the morning,

they find out they're wearing

the same thing the entire day.

They get

totally pissed off.

And the shoes...

You gave

them two pairs of shoes

for women.

I'm just saying.

Rosa, dinner!

Where is she?

- Coming.

- Who's the lasagna?

- Yeah.

- That's you?

- Oh God.

- Who's the pod macaroni and cheese. Ish?

- I guess I'll take that.

- To six months!

- Okay, eyes. Eyes.

- Wait, you're not looking into my eyes.

Oh, sorry.

- Can I see?

- Did you see any polar bears?

No, really.

We pooled our astronauts

from the very best space

programs across the globe.

Our captain is William xu.

I think this mission

will show people that

we're still capable

of achieving impossible things.

Dr. Daniel Luxembourg.

My entire adult life

has been dedicated

to exploring

extreme environments.

I became an astronaut

specifically

to have the opportunity

to do something like this.

Dr. Katya Petrovna.

Life on earth began in the

ocean, so in some ways

this mission will be like

taking a trip back in time.

My background is in marine

biology and oceanography.

To be honest, sometimes

I'm terrified of flying.

Andrei blok.

I think I have

349 days in outer space,

so I'm what

you call a veteran.

The only thing

I can't face is...

The food.

James Corrigan.

I remember watching

footage at school

of Neil Armstrong

on the moon,

and just... just knowing

"I want to do this."

- Rosa dasque.

- Call me immature, reckless, arrogant.

I just want to go faster and

farther than anyone has before.

We had to design a spacecraft

unlike by any before it.

Of course, once the decision was

made to put people on board,

the requirements ballooned.

Human beings need

food, shelter.

They need an environment

that is survivable

and has some level

of comfort.

It's cracking the ice.

We're a month away, Andrei.

We're still concerned

about your recovery.

So how should I be

recovering, exactly?

Excuse me.

So what do you think?

I still wouldn't advise leaving him

in the orbiter alone for three weeks.

I'd rather not leave

our only engineer behind.

So we take him down

with us then.

Yeah.

Jupiter.

Being so close to our

destination lifted our spirits.

It felt that everything

made sense again.

The thickness

in the air cleared.

But what cleared it

was sheer adrenaline.

Prep for orbital transfer.

We're gonna feel

some gs here.

Pitch maneuver.

We are clear

of Jupiter's orbit.

Beginning

orbital transfer.

Pitching for power descent.

Daniel, can you keep

Andrei abreast

of any of those changes

in the readouts, please?

- Roger that.

- Orbit trajectory, clear.

Current speed

60 kilometers per second.

- Ready?

- Yes.

Surface

conditions in the I.Z.?

I've got heat plume and

radiation analysis incoming,

but the data is variable.

Heat is fluctuating.

Not far now.

All systems online.

Showing green light.

Landing gear armed

and ready to deploy.

Ladies and

gentlemen, hold on.

Here we go.

Trajectory and speed?

Heading 270.3.

Coming in low

across thera macula

at 458.4 meters

per second.

Target site lining up.

Landing gear deployed.

20 seconds to...

It's like a thermal vent.

Sort of an eruptive feature.

- Can you stabilize us?

- I'm trying!

Andrei, I need an option

for emergency landing.

Vent's coming from the

area around our target site.

There's a low gradation of ice just

past the I.Z., along thrace macula.

Okay. Land us long.

Get us past the vent area.

- 100 meters to contact

10 seconds of fuel.

Back off the burners

on approach

or we'll melt

our landing site.

Roger that. 10 meters.

- Five meters.

- Contact lights.

Shut down.

I think

we've got it.

Everything

okay up here?

Sorry.

I can't pull

my eyes away from it.

It takes your breath away.

That night I went out

and found Jupiter

in the night sky and...

I spent a long time

looking at it, just...

Hoping.

Surface temp in current position

is holding

at absolute zero.

Prelim service data has us on a

bed of what looks like ice 11.

We should be there,

but we're here.

We flew

590 million kilometers

and then landed

100 meters off the mark.

It seems insignificant,

but it will be difficult

to get useful surface analysis.

Ironically, what threw the ship

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