Space exploration of this sort has a long lead time. We're reaping the fruits of year and years of labor with most of those.
Cassini started in the Eighties and launched in 1997. New Horizons was greenlit in 2001 after a decade of work and launched in 2006. Dawn was intitially greenlit 2001 and finally launched in 2007. Curiosity started in 2004 and launched in 2011. Juno was greenlit in 2005 and launched in 2011.
The Europa Mission will, presuming no delays, launch in 7-10 years. In between there is very, very little. (One asteroid sample return mission, and one Mars lander. Nothing beyond the asteroids until the Europa mission, and nothing greenlit for afterwards.)
Yeah, exactly! The saddest part of all this beautiful discovery and imagery is that we are about to be thirsty for more, and there are hardly any new robots in the pipeline. So sad.
Cassini started in the Eighties and launched in 1997. New Horizons was greenlit in 2001 after a decade of work and launched in 2006. Dawn was intitially greenlit 2001 and finally launched in 2007. Curiosity started in 2004 and launched in 2011. Juno was greenlit in 2005 and launched in 2011.
The Europa Mission will, presuming no delays, launch in 7-10 years. In between there is very, very little. (One asteroid sample return mission, and one Mars lander. Nothing beyond the asteroids until the Europa mission, and nothing greenlit for afterwards.)