europaclipper
Latest
Saturn and Jupiter's moon burps bode well for distant life
Scientists recently took a closer look at data over a decade old and concluded that two moons orbiting Saturn and Jupiter might have environments that foster life. During an October 2015 flyby of the ringed planet's moon Enceladus, the probe Cassini was hit by gaseous plume, which was likely a hydrothermal vent breaking through the iced surface. Scientists theorize that the spray is evidence of chemical energy for life to feed on. Thanks to sporadic evidence of plumes on Jupiter's moon Europa, NASA has announced that two locations in the solar system might support living organisms.
NASA wants to send an orbiter to Jupiter's moon Europa in a decade
NASA's scientists have been conjuring up mission concepts to Europa for more than a decade, but now they're absolutely sure that the Clipper concept is the one. So, they're asking $30 million from the government for a year of preliminary studies starting on October 1st, on top of the $100 million the Congress already gave the agency to construct a viable Europa mission last year. "We believe we have now found the one that is just right," JPL senior research scientist Robert Pappalardo told Discovery News, where he also discussed more details about the agency's Goldilocks Europa project. We say "Goldilocks," because Pappalardo describes earlier concepts as too big, too small or too plain expensive.
