Hunt for ET extends to Jupiter’s moon

American space scientists on Thursday unveiled the interplanetary probe NASA plans to send to one of Jupiter’s icy moons as part of humanity’s hunt for extra-terrestrial life.

The Clipper spacecraft is due to blast off in October bound for Europa, one of dozens of moons orbiting the Solar System’s biggest planet, and the nearest spot in our celestial neighborhood that could offer a perch for life.

“One of the fundamental questions that NASA wants to understand is, are we alone in the cosmos?” Bob Pappalardo, the mission’s project scientist told AFP.

“If we were to find the conditions for life, and then someday actually find life in a place like Europa, then that would say in our own solar system there are two examples of life: Earth and Europa,” he said. “That would be huge for understanding how common life might be throughout the universe.”

The $5-billion probe is currently at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, sitting in a “clean room” — a sealed area only accessible to people wearing head-to-toe coverings. The precautions are to ensure the probe remains free of contaminants to avoid transporting earthly microbes to Europa.

After transport to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Clipper is set to launch aboard a Space X Falcon Heavy rocket and begin an over-five-year journey that involves a pass by Mars to pick up speed. In 2031, it should be in orbit around Jupiter and Europa, where it will begin a detailed study of the moon scientists believe is covered in frozen water.

“We have instruments like cameras, and spectrometers, a magnetometer and a radar that can... penetrate right through ice, bounce off liquid water and back to the surface to tell us how thick is the ice and where is liquid water located,” Pappalardo said.

No green men

Mission managers do not expect to find little green men swimming in the water — in fact, they’re not even looking for life itself, only for the conditions that could support it.

Scientists know from extreme environments on Earth — like light-starved geothermal vents located deep under the polar ice cap — that tiny beings can find purchase almost anywhere.

And conditions on Europa, which is almost as large as Earth’s moon, could provide a similar habitat, offering the tantalizing prospect we are not alone — not even in our own Solar System.

“If moons around planets far away from stars could hold life, then the number of opportunities around the solar system, around the universe, where life could take hold, I think goes up dramatically,” said Jordan Evans, project manager for the Europa Clipper mission.