Boy, do I regret this one not coming to fruition...and what I wouldn't have done to earn a mission patch for it... Ah well, let's go to Mars instead!
Lost Mission: JIMO
Boy, do I regret this one not coming to fruition...and what I wouldn't have done to earn a mission patch for it... Ah well, let's go to Mars instead!
Jim, have you seen James Cameron's "Aliens of the Deep"? I rented it to ogle some sea creatures, not realizing that the film was all about NASA preparing to launch JIMO. Sadly, I remembered your blog post about them scrapping the program, so it was a little painful to watch the scientists speak so enthusiastically about the (soon to be doomed) JIMO mission. In any case, "Aliens" is still fun to watch just for the simulated landing on Europa, although I could have done without the cornball ending.
RIP JIMO
I've seen some, but maybe not all, of it. I do remember that simulated landing.
NASA missions get proposed, worked on, and scrapped all the time. It's a sad in some ways, especially when the only reason is "we ran out of money" but that's the way big science works nowadays.
Speaking of aliens and depths, if you haven't seen this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ZJXFzSjdA
you should. Now. I love how the person filming is all "Ho hum, some floaty stuff, some debris, a squid, some more floaty stu...HOLY CRAP THAT SQUID IS WOW THAT BODY IS I WONDER HOW BIG HOLY HELL LOOKIT THOSE TENTACLES ARE YOU GUYS SEEING WHAT I'M SEEING?!!"