NASA's Planetary Science Division (PSD) is planning to visit Jupiter's moons in the following decades. In 2050, NASA is hoping to find life in these icy moons of Jupiter, specifically in Europa.
NASA presented their plans for the future of space exploration at their headquarters in Washington DC, reported Universe Today. Kevin Peter Hand, the Deputy Chief Scientist for Solar System Exploration at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, prepared a report about their plan to explore Jupiter's moons. Him team in Science Definition Team (SDT) together with the JPL and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) submitted the said report to NASA on Feb 7 this year.
It has explained and stated the things needed for the exploration. It has three objectives, first is searching for signs of life in the oceans of Europa. Second objective is conducting analysis in site. The analysis will see the composition and contents of the non-ice near-subsurface material. It will determine what type of materials is in the water. The third goal is to know what made the surface and subsurface of the moons like that.
The space probes will find out why Europa and Jupiter's other icy moons are shaped the way they are. NASA is going to find out the answer to those so they would know what kind of materials their spacecraft should be made of. They also need to know what the spacecraft should avoid, said NASA.
"Were biosignatures to be found in the surface material, direct access to, and exploration of, Europa's ocean and liquid water environments would be a high priority goal for the astrobiological investigation of our Solar System," Hand explained. If Europa has indeed extra-terrestrial life, NASA would send more probes to see what kind they are. If it failed to find life outside Earth, NASA will just send probes to know why life is not appropriate for it, Hand explained further.
