[Centurion2000]

Jupiter is also a chaotic hell hole, with an average temp (on what passes for a solid surface) of about 290 K

You realize that Jupiter does not have a surface, it's a gas giant, and that 290K is actually pretty pleasant, a nice Texas day in early spring (290K = 17C = 62.6 F).

Give me a hot air balloon and a decent autopilot and you could mine Helium3 from Jupiter's clouds with little more than an oxygen mask (check the air pressure though, that could get really rough)

[nightdriver]

"You realize that Jupiter does not have a surface, it's a gas giant,"

I did not know that. Does that mean that the comet that slammed into it a few years ago (images captured by the Hubbell) left no crater? It made a splash that looked similar to a lawn sprinkler toward the back side of the planet.

[JSteff]

Doesn't it have a base core? Otherwise why the surface damage from the comet and the fact that one of our missions was/did (?) parchute a probe onto it?