Could it be that our solar system is home to a second celestial body with life, in addition to Earth? The implications of such a discovery would be dizzying. The Europa Clipper mission, which is due to take off on Monday, represents a first step in determining this.
An imposing NASA probe is preparing to begin its long journey to Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons, which it will reach in April 2030. Beneath its icy surface lies an ocean of liquid water, scientists believe .
This is an opportunity for us to explore not a world that may have been habitable billions of years ago, but a world that could be habitable today.
The mission is scheduled to take off late Monday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, aboard a powerful SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
In search of the ingredients necessary for life
The mission should make it possible to determine the structure and composition of its icy surface, the depth and even the salinity of its ocean. All in order to understand if the three ingredients necessary for life are indeed present: water, energy and certain chemical compounds.
The mission will not directly look for signs of life but will answer the question of habitability: does Europe contain the ingredients that would allow life to be present there? If this is the case, then another mission will have to go there to try to detect it.
“This is an opportunity for us to explore not a world that may have been habitable billions of years ago,” like Mars, “but a world that could be habitable today, right now “, underlines Curt Niebur, scientific manager for the mission.
A priori, if it exists, life would be found in the ocean in the form of primitive bacteria. But too deep for Europa Clipper to see.
The mission will cost $5.2 billion
The probe is the largest ever designed by NASA for interplanetary exploration: 30 meters wide once its immense solar panels are extended. These were designed to capture the faint light reaching Jupiter.
In five and a half years of travel to reach Jupiter, the probe will travel 2.9 billion kilometers. From his arrival, the main mission will last four years.
The cost is $5.2 billion. An investment justified by the importance of the data to be collected, according to NASA.
Europa Clipper will operate at the same time as the Juice probe of the European Space Agency (ESA), which must study two other moons of Jupiter, Ganymede and Callisto, in addition to Europa.
afp/ostolu
Related News :