On the way to Jupiter and its icy moons. NASA’s Europa Clipper probe successfully took off last Monday, October 14, bound for Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons which shelters, under its layer of ice, a global ocean which could contain traces of primitive life.
It is the immense question of the origins of life and the quest for other forms of extraterrestrial life elsewhere in the universe which underlies the mission Europa Clipper. The largest spacecraft ever sent by NASA is expected to arrive in orbit around Jupiter in 2030 to begin its journey back and forth to Europeone of the 95 moons of Jupiter, which we know, at least since the Galileo probe, that it contains, under its layer of ice, a global ocean of liquid water – water being an essential ingredient (but not sufficient) to the appearance of life.
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On Europa, the volume of liquid water in this subglacial ocean is twice as large as all the terrestrial oceans and seas. Which is colossal. Even more fascinating, Europa is subject to tidal forces exerted by its orbit around the giant Jupiter. Tides which could facilitate the exchange of energy and heat with this subglacial ocean.
However, this is precisely one of the hypotheses for the appearance of life on Earth at the bottom of the oceans in hydrothermal hot springs. Europa is therefore an ideal candidate for this quest for the origins of life, even if it is not the only massive icy moon of Jupiter to interest scientists.
To listen in News WitnessesWhy do we still have to go see Jupiter?
The Juice mission to discover Ganymede
Another space mission, this time from Esa, the European Space Agency, is already on its way. This is the mission Juice (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer), which took off last April towards Jupiter to explore in particular Ganymede, another icy moon of Jupiter which would also shelter an ocean of liquid water and around which it will be easier to place in orbit.
Because the problem, if I dare say, with Europe, is that it is impossible to approach. Impossible to stay in orbit for a long time without damaging and frying all of its instruments. To explore Europa, the Europa Clipper mission will only be able to make rapid flybys, going back and forth between Jupiter and its satellite Europa, while Juice will be able to carry out detailed observations by placing itself in orbit successively around several moons, like Ganymede, or the little-known Callisto. These two missions are therefore complementary and work towards a common goal, that of answering this dizzying question: are there elementary building blocks of life in the oceans of Jupiter’s icy moons?
We will have to wait until 2030 to have an answer, but did you know that you may already be on your way to Jupiter and its moons without knowing it? If your name is one of the 2.6 million first and last names engraved on a thin tantalum plate embedded in the probe, it’s possible! Probe on which is also engraved the acoustic spectrum of the word “water” in a hundred languages, as well as the famous Drake equation which estimates the number of extraterrestrial civilizations capable of communicating with us in the Milky Way. You never know…
To listen in Around the questionIs there life beyond Earth?