A blast of water vapour from Jupiter’s moon Europa in 2012 indicated it may have life
.jpg "An artist's concept of CubeSats, lightweight and low-cost satellites, near Jupiter's moon Europa (Photo: NASA/JPL)")
There may be life on Jupiter’s moon Europa and NASA is planning a mission to search for signs of alien life on the planet’s icy moon.
“NASA officials held a workshop on Wednesday at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley to discuss the matter,” says a report published in Space.com. In particular, the mission would study the clouds of water vapour that were seen emanating from Europa’s south polar region in 2012 and were captured by the Hubble telescope. The earliest the mission can be sent is 2022 and the rocket would not reach Jupiter before 2030, says the report.
“Plans for a Europa mission have been in the works for years, but NASA got closer to making it a reality when the White House allocated $30 million for a Europa mission in its 2016 budget request,” says a report published on the website of LA Times.
“Roughly, the size of Earth's moon Europa is structurally like a liquor-filled chocolate, with a liquid ocean that could be 62 miles (100 kilometres) deep,” says National Geographic. The moon “many think is our best chance for finding other life in our solar system”, the report adds.
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