Report: NASA Will Send Two Probes To 'Europa' To Find Alien Life
After two decades of development, NASA scientists are on the verge of exploring Jupiter's ocean moon Europa for signs of alien life. The scientists hope Europa is our best shot of finding biological life in the solar system.
According to BBC, this week NASA discussed the probes at the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston. The first mission is a ''flyby' called Europa Clipper that will launch in 2022. The next is a Lander mission, which will follow Clipper a few years later.
The immense gravity of Jupiter's helps generate tidal forces that repeatedly stretch and relax the moon. The stresses that created Europa's smashed up terrain are best explained by the ice shell floating on an ocean of liquid water.
Daily Mail has reported that Europa has a water ocean underneath its icy surface-one of the key components for life. The moon's orbital path takes it deep into Jupiter's magnetic field which rapidly speeds up particles and traps them on the moon's surface and also chemicals are known as oxidants on the surface. These oxidants react with compounds known as reductions to form the energy that needed for life.
The Clipper probe will house nine different instruments for measuring the distant moon's surface and ocean. These high-tech gadgets include a camera to take detailed images of Europa's surface and spectrometers to measure its composition.
NASA scientists have stated that an ice-penetrating radar will take analyze all three of the moon's surface and a magnetometer to research the ocean beneath. Europa orbits Jupiter every 3.5 days and is tidally locked. Like Earth's Moon, the same side of Europa faces Jupiter at all time.
Researchers thought like Earth Europa have an iron core, a rocky mantle and a surface ocean of salty water. The ocean is deep enough to cover the whole surface of Europa, and being far from the sun, the ocean surface is globally frozen over.
However, experts believe that the hidden ocean warmed by powerful tidal forces by Jupiter' that may have the conditions favorable for life. Scientists are hoping to find life on the others planet.
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