The Russian government has just allocated 50 million rubles ($1.52 million) for the development of a technical proposal to land a probe on the surface of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede. If successful, it would mark the country's first mission beyond Mars.
This is actually quite exciting! Ganymede makes for a really cool target. It's the largest moon in the solar system — about 8% larger than Mercury, but has only 45% of its mass. It's primarily composed of silicate rock and water ice, and it's thought to contain a saltwater ocean about 125 miles (200 km) below the surface sandwiched between layers of ice. It's also the only moon in the solar system to possess a magnetosphere, likely created through convection within its liquid iron core.
The proposed Russian mission, called Laplas-P, would feature two spacecraft launched by a pair of heavy launch vehicles. The journey to Jupiter would take about seven to nine years. The Russian government is hoping to develop the technical proposal by the end of 2015.
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