The first of several robotic missions is expected to launch in the mid-2020s
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Jim Green, NASA's planetary science chief, said there's no reason to think there isn't life on Europa, the sixth-closest moon to the planet Jupiter and the sixth-largest moon in the solar system. And he can't wait to find out.
"We've been thinking about Europa for quite a few years. Then in December things had to change," Green told Computerworld. "The ocean there is protected by an ice shell and there's no reason that we believe life couldn't have been generated on Europa. The real search for aliens is in this solar system. To determine if life exists outside the bounds of Earth's gravity, it's really in places like Mars and Europa and maybe Titan."
If NASA does find life -- whether it's microbial or other life forms -- that will have major repercussions on what we expect about life outside the bounds of Earth.
"If we can find life there, either past life or current life, then that tells us life has to be everywhere in this galaxy," said Green. "It's an extreme environment, but not as extreme as we think. It's in a temperature range that life, as we know it, is abundant but does it have the right chemicals to create life and feed life? There's no reason to think that the evolution of life in that environment didn't just take off."
"It's a really dynamic region," said Green. "It's a fabulous water world. We believe life probably started in water on this planet. Having billions of years of water on Europa, tells us there's a good chance there's life on Europa now."
