NASA Scientists Plan Exploration of Jupiter's Moon Europa and Hunt for Life

First Posted: Aug 08, 2013 09:13 AM EDT
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There may not be life on other planets in our Solar System, but there could be life on a certain moon. NASA scientists are taking a closer look at Jupiter's moon, Europa, in an attempt to decide what sort of features they should study during future missions.

"If one day humans send a robotic lander to the surface of Europa, we need to know what to look for and what tools it should carry," said Robert Pappalardo, the lead author of the new study, in a news release. "There is still a lot of preparation that is needed before we could land on Europa, but studies like these will help us focus on the technologies required to get us there, and on the data needed to help us scout out possible landing locations. Europa is the most likely place in our solar system beyond Earth to have life today, and a landed mission would be the best way to search for signs of life."

Most of what scientists know of Europa has been gleaned from a dozen or so close flybys from NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1979 and NASA's Galileo spacecraft that passed by in the mid-1990s. The moon is a fractured, ice-covered world that may possess liquid water ocean underneath its surface. This, in turn, could be hospitable to microbial life. Yet actually discovering this life is another matter entirely, and something that would need quite a bit of preparation.

That's why scientists are taking steps to outline a plan. Some of the most important questions researchers hope to answer about Europa relate to geological activity and the presence of liquid water. In addition, they hope to find out more information about the moon's composition. For example, what makes up the reddish "freckles" and cracks that stain Europa's icy surface?

"Landing on the surface of Europa would be a key step in the astrobiological investigation of that world," said Chris McKay, a senior editor of the journal Astrobiology, in a news release. "This paper outlines the science that could be done on such a lander. The hope would be that surface materials, possibly near the linear crack features, include biomarkers carried up from the ocean."

The findings are crucial for understanding what needs to be done before a potential mission to Europa. It paves the way not only for learning a bit more about the moon, but also may aid the hunt for life on other worlds.

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

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