February 21, 2015 <\/p>\n
This artist's impression shows Jupiter and its moon Europa using actual Jupiter and Europa images in visible light. The Hubble ultraviolet images showing the faint emission from the water vapor plumes have been superimposed, respecting the size but not the brightness of the plumes. (Credit: NASA\/M. Kommesser) <\/p>\n
Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com @BednarChuck <\/p>\n
NASA officials have reportedly asked scientists to determine if the US space agencys upcoming mission to Jupiters moon Europa could be used to search for signs of extraterrestrial life. <\/p>\n
[STORY: NASA discusses future robotic lander mission to Europa] <\/p>\n
The voyage to Europa, which could be ready to launch within the next decade, was initially not designed to seek out signs of alien life. Instead, Kevin Hand, Deputy Chief Scientist for Solar System Exploration at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said earlier this month that the goal of the mission was to understand habitability; the ingredients for life. <\/p>\n
However, as reported Friday by Space.com, NASA may be doing an about-face on that, as they are exploring the possibility of searching for evidence of organic life in water vapor plumes that blast into space from the moons southern polar region during the mission. Those plumes could give scientists a way to sample Europas buried ocean of liquid water, the website said. <\/p>\n
Last call for aliens <\/p>\n
During a workshop at NASAs Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley on Wednesday, science chief John Grunsfeld told reporters that this is our chance to find out whether or not life exists on the Europa, and he hoped that they dont miss this opportunity for lack of ideas. <\/p>\n
As revealed in the agencys 2016 budget, NASA plans to send an unmanned mission to Europa in order to study those vast oceans, which are buried beneath layers of ice. The spacecraft used on the mission will be known as the Europa Clipper, which will be comprised of an orbiter that will conduct roughly 45 flybys of the moons surface over the next three years. <\/p>\n
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Could NASAs Europa mission search for alien life?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 21, 2015 This artist's impression shows Jupiter and its moon Europa using actual Jupiter and Europa images in visible light. The Hubble ultraviolet images showing the faint emission from the water vapor plumes have been superimposed, respecting the size but not the brightness of the plumes. (Credit: NASA\/M. Continue reading