I'm probably in a real minority here but I'd probably rather see an Europa unmanned ocean-drilling mission than a manned mission to Mars (certainly more than another manned mission to the Moon.)
I was completely disinterested in the ISS solar-panel repair mission - I can't quite get the mindset of people that are only interested in space if people are involved - what I care about is what is being discovered.
NASA is currently spending small sums experimenting with drilling units in Antarctica and whatnot, but there's no formal Europa mission scheduled - it's going to be a LOOOONG time before it happens.
I'd also like to see a Titan orbiter and another couple Titan landings with purpose-built larger landers or even rovers.
Your not in the minority at least with me. Mars used to be a goal I thought was worthy but it will never be a good place to terraform it is just far to small. Life may exist there as microscopic virus or bacteria but who really cares. We should be looking for life and quit mucking about with places that are no more interesting than the moon.
Hell we should sink our money into a space telescope that can find planets like earth in other solar systems.
If we found a planet with a nitrogen oxygen atmosphere how long so you think people would wait to build something to go there? People would demand to have ships sent.
Haven't we been warned to stay away from Europa?
That's like saying all cars should be remote-controlled so that we wouldn't have to go anywhere.
Manned exploration would be it's own reward even if there where no other, but there are. If Europeans had your attitude there would be no United States of America.
Life on Earth is too fragile. We could be wiped out by some disaster. Space colonization is an insurance policy against that, as well as a fulfillment of the destiny of human life. It is a step of evolution as great as when life first left the sea, or even greater. Can you really be against all those things?
Anyway, you can't stop the outward march of life. The only question in my mind is whether the U.S. will continue to lead, or even be involved in the long run.