There were many good candidates for leadership. Asteroid miners in their prime with real experience working in low-gravity and artificial habitat systems. Sharp-eyed pilots with experience in controlling the space, ice, and underwater vessels that would be used in the colony. Marine biologists, experts in the kinds of ecosystems everyone hoped to find in Europa's moon-wide icebound ocean.
There were arcologists, designers and administrators of self-enclosed habitats who would know the signs of system failure. Many favored having an aerospace engineer take the lead, like with most prior space missions. Someone who could think on their feet and keep the colony ship running during the eighteen-month journey. Others pushed for a diplomat in charge, someone who could hold together the many factions vying for control of the project.