On Tuesday, NASA announced its ambitions to go to Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter, by 2025.

"Europa is a very challenging mission operating in a really high radiation environment, and there's lots to do to prepare for it," Beth Robinson, NASA chief financial officer, told reporters Tuesday. "We're looking for a launch sometime in the mid-2020s.

According to Space.com, Europa could contain "the solar system's best bet to host alien life" within oceans that lay beneath its ice shell. In the White House's 2015 federal budget request, $15 million out of $17.5 billion given to NASA has been allotted toward getting the space agency to Europa. This is the first time Europa has been considered in the budget.

"I would not be overly optimistic until I see the words, 'We want to go to Europa' [from the administration]," Alyssa Rhoden, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center planetary scientist, told Wired.

NASA says that its Europa mission has not been detailed yet, but Space.com predicts that the most likely vessel for the mission would be the Europa Clipper. Researchers have been developing the probe for years; it would reportedly pass by Europa while orbiting Jupiter thus giving it the chance to study the moon's shell and ocean via "science instruments."

"Clearly this is a statement by NASA that they recognize the priority and excitement of Europa exploration," Robert Pappalardo, Europa Clipper Pre-Project scientist, told Wired.

There is still a lot to be done in order to get the mission off the ground, however. It would cost an estimated $2 billion to get the Europa Clipper working.

"A mission to Europa takes vision," Rhoden continued. "Exploring it is at the heart of what we do as NASA and as scientists, but people need to make their voices heard or else it doesn't happen."

Europa is 1,900-miles, or 3,000 kilometers, wide.

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