With a diameter of 3121 km and potentially an ocean hidden under its icy crust, one of the satellites of the gigantic Jupiter could be a refuge for life. But what form of life could we discover there?
Tl;dr
- NASA’s Europa Clipper mission explores Jupiter’s moon Europa.
- Europe, with its possible subglacial ocean, could potentially support life.
- The probe will reach Europe in April 2030 after a journey of 2.9 billion kilometers.
Overview of the next space mission: Europa Clipper
Imagine another world, beyond our blue planet, that could support life. A world of water and ice, nestled in the confines of our solar system, around Jupiter. This is not a dream or speculation, but the focus of a NASA space mission: Europa Clipper.
Europe, a promising moon
With its 3121 km diameter, Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons, captivates the attention of scientists. Beneath its icy surface, they suspect the existence of an ocean of liquid water. “Europe is one of the most promising places to search for life beyond Earth”said Gina DiBraccio, a manager at NASA.
The Europa Clipper mission, which is due to take off today, aims to study these possibilities. The space probe, the largest ever designed by NASA for interplanetary exploration, will reach Europe in April 2030 after a journey of 2.9 billion kilometers.
A quest for habitability
The goal of the mission is not to directly look for signs of life, but to determine whether Europa has the ingredients necessary for life.
To do this, Europa Clipper carries numerous ultra-sophisticated instruments to determine the structure and composition of Europa’s ice surface, the depth and salinity of its ocean, and how the two interact. If Europa proves habitable, another mission will have to go there to try to detect life.
Galactic implications
The possibility that our solar system is home to two habitable worlds, Earth and Europa, would open new perspectives for the search for life in the galaxy. “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, at this very moment. »said Curt Niebur, science lead for the mission.
Whether or not the Europa Clipper mission succeeds, the data it collects will be critically important to space exploration. In addition, it will operate in parallel with the European Space Agency’s Juice probe, which will study two other moons of Jupiter, Ganymede and Callisto, in addition to Europa.
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