14 DAY TRIAL // In early April, during a panel discussion in Washington, DC, NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan promised us that we would find alien life in about 10 years' time, 20 tops. As it turns out, we just might.
Sometime in the 2020s, the US space agency plans to send a spacecraft to have a closer look at Jupiter's moon Europa. The mission, detailed in the video below, hopes to find proof of alien lifeforms on this orb in our Solar System.
As explained by NASA researchers, evidence indicates that Europa hides liquid water under its surface. If this is, in fact, the case, it might be that the celestial body also harbors life, be it only microbial.
Having completed its first major review, NASA's Europa mission is now entering its development phase. The mission will see a spacecraft be sent to orbit Jupiter and make regular flybys of Europa.
During these flybys, the spacecraft will map the moon's surface and try to determine the chemical composition of the jets the Hubble Space Telescope has seen it spew out on several occasions.
“The mission plan includes 45 flybys, during which the spacecraft would image the moon's icy surface at high resolution and investigate its composition and the structure of its interior and icy shell,” NASA writes in a statement.
Well then, fingers crossed and let's hope this ambitious NASA mission will at long last help us figure out whether or not we are all alone in the cosmos.
