Posted on 02/16/2013 5:29:34 PM PST by driftdiver
US astronomers looking for life in the solar system believe that Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, which has an ocean, is much more promising than desert-covered Mars, which is currently the focus of the US government's attention.
"Europa is the most likely place in our solar system beyond Earth to possess .... life," said Robert Pappalardo, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
"And it is the place we should be exploring now that we have a concept mission we think is the right one to get there for an affordable cost," he continued.
"Europa is the most promising in terms of habitability because of its relatively thin ice shelf and an ocean ... And we know there are oxidants on the surface of Europa."
At the request of NASA, a proposed mission to explore Europa was revised to significantly reduce the cost, the scientist told the media on the sidelines of an annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) underway here.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Awesome movie
..and if a study was done of Michelle Obama’s A$$, Al Gore would make millions more and the bio diversity crowd would crown a new king...
I think thats a planet a little further out. Right before Pluto.
Lol - you beat me to it. Loved that movie.
“ALL THESE WORLDS
ARE YOURS EXCEPT
EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO
LANDING THERE
USE THEM TOGETHER
USE THEM IN PEACE”
Life imitates Clarke, again
I’ve been pissed at NASA for years, what with all the dicking around on Mars they’ve done.
Translation: We’ve milked the “life on Mars scam” for all it’s worth. It’s time to move on to the next one.
I guess I should have read the posts. I would have realized you beat me to it.
This is the moon thought to have liquid water on it.
This means that if it doesn’t have life already, it could support life. You just have to figure out how to drill down through a mile of ice, and build facilities under a mile of ice. But any microbes that survive the trip should be able to take off and flourish.
/johnny
Could you imagine the enviromanics
Drilling through the ice isn’t the problem. The problem is what to do when you run out of tequila.
I see what you did there.
Butt...
I would respectfully disagree. That (she) is a system unto itself.
You could be right. After all the universe does revolve around them.
Fortunately I live in a parallel universe. Pretty sure under the laws of physics, if they burst my bubble....my matter...to their anti matter...
No cactus on Europa. Yet.
A still, however, would be there about a week after the first humans arrive.
Interesting! I’d always thought that Saturn’s moon Titan was the place thought most likely to have life outside of Earth. I wasn’t aware Europa was considered such a strong possibility.
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