Could we discover conditions necessary for life outside the Earth in the solar system? This is one of the mysteries that the space mission JUICE (for <keyword id="34757" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="jupiter" source="Orion">JUpiter</keyword> ICy moons Explorer) will look to elucidate. Initially set to be launched from Kourou, French Guiana, in the early afternoon of Thursday 13 April 2023, the spacecraft will now be leaving on Friday due to bad weather. <br /><br /> To propel this mission to a planet located more than 600 million kilometres away, the European Space Agency (ESA) has brought together no fewer than 13 European countries, as well as the United States, Japan, and Israel. <br /><br /> Through this mission, the agency has also managed the feat of placing JUICE on the launch pad only 11 years after the project was greenlit. While the Covid pandemic slowed down the process, the delay was only nine months. <br /><br /> France's team, of which I am a part, also helped develop six of JUICE's ten state-of-the-art scientific instruments. The probe is expected to arrive in the Jovian system in 2031. <br /><br /> <strong>Stretching science's boundaries <br /></strong><br /> Jupiter is both the largest planet in our solar system and the one with the most moons. To date, estimates of their number hover between 82 and 95, most of which have been discovered in the last two decades. <br /><br /> JUICE is the first mission to receive more than 1 billion euros of funding as part of the ESA's Cosmic Vision programme. It seeks to address four main questions: <br /><br /><ul><li>How do planets come to form and life to emerge? </li><li>How does the Solar System work?</li><li>What are the fundamental laws of physics in the universe?</li><li>How did the present universe come into being and what is it made of?</li></ul> JUICE was chosen ahead of other proposed missions because it was designed to address the first and last of these questions. <br /><br /> The <keyword id="145693" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="hubble-space-telescope" source="Orion">Hubble Space Telescope</keyword> and <keyword id="6360409" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword>'s space probes Voyager, Galileo, Juno have already picked up some clues either by direct observation or deduction. <br /><br /> "Ocean moons" containing more water than the Earth NASA's Galileo was the first to discover water on the moons in 1995. Data captured by the space probe revealed gigantic liquid oceans not only under the crusts of its three icy moons, Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, but also on its volcanic moon, Io. <br /><br /> In 2014, the Hubble Space Telescope discovered geysers in Europa. Their bases appeared to be caked with salts, including carbonates. It is therefore likely Europa could meet the four criteria for habitability: <br /><br /><ul><li>The famous quartet of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen (CHON), symbols of the main chemical elements that constitute living beings.</li><li> Liquid water that acts as a solvent.</li><li> Energy to enable the development of life.</li><li> A stable environment (orbits, rotation, average temperatures...)</li></ul> <br /> The Galilean moons further enjoy the gravitational energy of Jupiter, creating significant tidal effects and allowing the last two conditions above to be met. <br /><br /> <strong>Why Ganymede is the main objective <br /></strong><br /> Ganymede is set to studied in much more depth by JUICE than Callisto and Europa. This is not only because it is the largest moon in the Solar System, but also an ocean moon with its own magnetic field. <br /><br /> Similarly to the Earth's magnetosphere, Ganymede's has the potential to protect life by diverting the flow of cosmic rays and radiative particles from Jupiter's radiation belts. <br /><br /> Along the way, JUICE will have to contend with the Solar System's highest radiation levels. <br /><br /> This means that its electronic modules have to be housed in lead-shielded cavities and components have to be "hardened" to help them resist the harsh environment. <br /><br /> JUICE will also have to cope with extreme temperatures, ranging from +250°C as it flies by Venus to -230°C in the Jovian system. To maintain a stable internal temperature, the spacecraft has been coated with a multilayer thermal insulation made out of grey silicon aluminium alloy, earning the probe the nickname "silver beauty". <br /><br /> <strong>An energy problem <br /></strong><br /> Around Jupiter, which is five times further from the Sun than Earth, the satellite will receive 25 times less solar energy than it would around Earth. <br /><br /> The spacecraft does not carry a radioactive battery because Europe is not yet able to produce them industrially, unlike the United States, Russia and China. <br /><br /> To enable the equipment and instruments to function with 1000W (the power of a small hairdryer), the craft will rely on huge solar panels - their surface area totals 85m2 - that have been tested to withstand the radiation and temperature variations. <br /><br /> Built by 80 European companies under the direction of EADS Toulouse, the JUICE probe has a wingspan of 28 metres (the length of a basketball court), a 2.5-metre long communications antenna (needed because of Jupiter's distance from the Earth). <br /><br /> It weighs nearly 6 tonnes at liftoff (most of which is propellant that will be consumed in manoeuvring the probe) and carries ten instruments (in all, less than 280 kg). <br /><br /> <strong>Ten scientific instruments on board <br /></strong><br /> Of these instruments, France - with assistance from Italy - chiefly engineered the Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (<keyword id="17145071" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="majis" source="Orion">MAJIS</keyword>). <br /><br /> It is the instrument that will allow the spacecraft to determine the physico-chemical compositions of the moons' surfaces as it flies over them and thus detect the CHON associated with potential habitability. <br /><br /> MAJIS will also study their ice sheets and liquid water. This will enable us to identify landing sites for future in situ exploration, and evaluate the structure and dynamics of Jupiter's atmosphere. <br /><br /> With an accuracy 10,000 times higher than the equivalent instrument on Galileo, the spatial resolution of MAJIS ranges between 100 metres and several kilometres depending on the probe's altitude at the time. <br /><br /> Finally, it should be noted that JUICE's plans may be revised based on the latest results from NASA's Juno mission. Juno is still orbiting Jupiter and has been flying over its poles since 2016. <br /><br /> Juno's nominal mission has been extended to fly past each of Jupiter's Galilean moons, starting with Ganymede in June 2021, and Europa in early 2023. <br /><br /> These observations and subsequent data analysis will allow JUICE scientists to better target the observations they make - 12 years after Juno and 30 years after Galileo. <br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/pfizers-new-bivalent-mrna-covid-booster-vax-highly-effective-lancet/articleshow/99488979.cms">Pfizer's new bivalent mRNA Covid booster vax highly effective: Lancet</a><br /></strong><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/even-mild-covid-infection-can-cause-sudden-hearing-loss-study/articleshow/99488945.cms"><strong>Even mild Covid infection can cause sudden hearing loss: Study</strong></a><br />

Scientists launch JUICE mission to explore Jupiter's icy moons

<ul><li>There are some major space and science missions planned for 2022.</li><li>NASA plans to return to the moon, while ESA has missions targeted for Jupiter and the moon.</li><li>India’s maiden human space mission will also kick off with the first uncrewed space flight in 2022.</li></ul>2021 has been an eventful year for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/list-of-the-most-exciting-and-weird-things-that-happened-in-space-in-2021/slidelist/88278413.cms">space</a> with space tourism kicking off in full swing, the first chilli peppers grown in space, a toilet leak, some dangerous<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/international-space-station-moved-by-1240-meters-to-dodge-space-junk-of-a-demolished-chinese-satellite/articleshow/87640888.cms"> space debris</a> and more. We also have a very big launch to look forward to on Christmas day which is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/how-to-watch-james-webb-telescope-launch-live-on-december-24/articleshow/88383075.cms">NASA’s James Webb space telescope</a> that is expected to help us understand what the universe looked like 14 billion years ago after the Big Bang.<br /><br />There’s always something big to look forward to in space and 2022 has some major launches planned to know about other planets, the moon, exoplanets and more. With only a few days more for 2022 to kick in, we take a look at some of the biggest space and science missions planned for the next year.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission" comment="subhead" text="NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission"><span data-til="noop">NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission</span></cmsannotation><br />NASA’s Artemis 1 flight, its uncrewed mission around the moon is planned to launch in March or April 2022. This mission was earlier scheduled for February 2022 but issues in its testing program delayed the launch. This spaceflight will be the first in NASA’s Artemis program under which the space agency plans to send astronauts to the moon later this decade.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Gaganyaan first uncrewed mission" comment="subhead" text="Gaganyaan first uncrewed mission"><span data-til="noop">Gaganyaan first uncrewed mission</span></cmsannotation><br />India’s maiden space human space mission “Gaganyaan” is scheduled to kick off next year with the first uncrewed mission taking place during the first half of 2022. This will be followed by another uncrewed mission and finally the crewed mission in 2023 that will make India the fourth country to send humans to space.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="NASA’s Psyche mission" comment="subhead" text="NASA’s Psyche mission"><span data-til="noop">NASA’s Psyche mission</span></cmsannotation><br />NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is scheduled to launch in August 2022 and arrive at the metal-rich asteroid belt ‘Psyche’ in 2026. This potato-looking asteroid belt sits between Mars and Jupiter and NASA plans to examine it to find answers about the formation of our solar system. The asteroid belt is believed to be rich in metal making it part of the very first generation of early metal cores in our solar system.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="ExoMars program" comment="subhead" text="ExoMars program"><span data-til="noop"><keyword id="12795955" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="exomars-program" source="Orion">ExoMars program</keyword></span></cmsannotation><br />The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to send UK-assembled rover Rosalind Franklin and the Kazachok Russian surface platform to Mars in September next year. The ExoMars rover will travel for nine months and reach the red planet in June 2023. It is designed to probe Mars searching for clues of past life and it will also analyse the soil to look for biosignatures.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="JUICE mission" comment="subhead" text="JUICE mission"><span data-til="noop">JUICE mission</span></cmsannotation><br />Another major mission for the ESA in 2022 is JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer). The JUICE mission is designed to explore Jupiter and three of its icy moons - Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. This mission is expected to help astrobiologists understand how habitable worlds might emerge around gas giant planets.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="NASA’s science missions" comment="subhead" text="NASA’s science missions"><span data-til="noop">NASA’s science missions</span></cmsannotation><br />NASA has four science missions planned for 2022 to help scientists learn more about the Earth’s climatic conditions and systems.The four NASA science missions include TROPICS, EMIT, NOAA’s JPSS-2 and SWOT, and each mission is designed to observe different climatic systems of Earth.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:</strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/scientists-find-more-evidence-of-possible-life-on-venus/articleshow/88425043.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Scientists find more evidence of possible life on Venus</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/how-to-watch-james-webb-telescope-launch-live-on-december-24/articleshow/88383075.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">James Webb telescope: How to watch NASA’s largest and most powerful space science telescope launch on Dec 24</a><br />

Space science missions to look forward to in 2022

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59f0b7788280a61d008b4d60-1968/europa-jupiter-ice-moon-half-hemisphere-nasa-jpl-galileo-pia19048.jpg" border="0" alt="europa jupiter ice moon half hemisphere nasa jpl galileo pia19048" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute" data-mce-caption="Half of Jupiter's icy moon Europa as seen via images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s." data-link="https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19048"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19048">NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute</a></span></p><p class="caption">Jupiter's moon Europa, as seen by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa">NASA</a> scientists looked at 20-year-old data from its Galileo probe, which orbited <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/jupiter">Jupiter</a> and its moons in the 1990s.</strong></li><li><strong>They discovered that the robot had flown through water spraying out of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/europa-jupiter-ocean-moon-first-surface-geology-map-2017-10">Europa, an icy moon</a> with a giant hidden ocean.</strong></li><li><strong> A new spacecraft could potentially "taste" the water from Europa that sprays into space and analyze it for signs of habitability - and alien life.</strong></li><li><strong>NASA is building a $2 billion Europa Clipper spacecraft to revisit the world and analyze its water plumes.</strong></li></ul><hr><p><em><br><br /></br></em></p><p>Scientists have reexamined 20-year-old data from a Jupiter spacecraft - and their findings may have considerably improved the chance we'll find alien life in the solar system in the next decade or so.</p><p>The data came from NASA's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">nuclear-powered</a> Galileo probe, which the space agency launched in 1989. The robot reached Jupiter in 1995 and orbited the gas giant and its giant moons, returning some of the most detailed and astounding data about the distant worlds.</p><p>In 1997, Galileo zoomed within 130 miles of the surface of Europa, the fourth-largest moon of Jupiter that's now known to have a crust of ice. Galileo's measurements from that flyby suggested Europa was hiding a vast, salty, ocean that may contain&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/water-space-volume-planets-moons-2016-10/">more water than exists on Earth</a>. But the probe never directly encountered that liquid - or so scientists thought at the time.</p><p>By reanalyzing old data from Galileo instruments, researchers discovered evidence that the robot had flown through a giant jet or <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/europa-water-jet-hubble-telescope-photos-2016-9">plume of water sprayed from Europa's ocean</a>.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58b74007ca2b011b008b4613-1200/undefined" border="0" alt="galileo jupiter illustration nasa.JPG" data-mce-source="NASA/Flickr (public domain)" data-mce-caption="An illustration of the Galileo spacecraft flying by Jupiter's moon Io." data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons/29691312953/"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons/29691312953/">NASA/Flickr (public domain)</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of the Galileo spacecraft flying by Jupiter's moon Io.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>"If this new interpretation is correct, it seems likely that Europa has frequent plume eruptions, and we may see more plumes in the coming years," <a href="https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Vance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Vance</a>, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who wasn't involved in the study, told Business Insider in an email.</p><p>The authors of the study, which was released Monday<a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/s41550-018-0450-z" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> in Nature Astronomy</a>, are hoping two new missions that will fly by Europa - one by the European Space Agency and another by NASA - might "taste" such plumes as they fly through them once again.</p><p>NASA plans to host a "<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-hosts-live-discussion-about-europa-findings-potential-for-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener">science chat</a>" about the discovery and its implications at 1 p.m. EDT on Monday. You can watch the event live at the end of this post.</p><h2>The two new missions scheduled to fly past Europa</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59f0d5103e9d2514048b4f45-1685/europa-clipper-flyby-mission-illustration-15-104b-nasa-jpl-caltech.jpg" border="0" alt="europa clipper flyby mission illustration 15 104b nasa jpl caltech" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech" data-mce-caption="An illustration of NASA's Europa Clipper mission flying over the icy moon of Jupiter." data-link="http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-europa-mission-begins-with-selection-of-science-instruments"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-europa-mission-begins-with-selection-of-science-instruments">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of NASA's Europa Clipper mission flying over the icy moon of Jupiter.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>There's a chance Europa might have an ocean that's habitable to alien life beneath its icy crust. Nutrients sprayed onto the ocean's surface by the nearby volcanic moon Io, the thinking goes, may sink, and hydrothermal vents may help create environments that support deep-ocean life (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oldest-fossils-life-hydrothermal-vents-2017-3">as they did and still do on Earth</a>).</p><p>Researchers have long suspected that Europa sprays plumes of water into space, which would give scientists access to that liquid without having to land a probe on the moon.&#xa0; But the evidence has been hard to come by.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5af9a91360f4332b008b48fc-1545/europa-ice-water-ocean-plume-jupiter-nasa-esa-swri-k-retherford.jpeg" border="0" alt="europa ice water ocean plume jupiter nasa esa swri k retherford" data-mce-source="NASA/ESA/K. Retherford/SWRI" data-mce-caption="A plume of subsurface ocean water vapor escapes through a crack in the icy crust of Europa, a moon of Jupiter." data-link="http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/europa-water-vapor-plume"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/europa-water-vapor-plume">NASA/ESA/K. Retherford/SWRI</a></span></p><p class="caption">A plume of subsurface ocean water vapor escapes through a crack in the icy crust of Europa, a moon of Jupiter.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>The best so far came from the Hubble Space Telescope, which watched Europa repeatedly pass in front of Jupiter. Images of Europa's silhouette against Jupiter showed what <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/europa-water-jet-hubble-telescope-photos-2016-9">looked like water plumes</a>.</p><p>However, the authors of the new study say Hubble's measurements "were made at the limit of sensitivity" for the telescope, casting some doubt on their reliability.</p><p>The new discovery is therefore all the more exciting, since it suggests Europa's watery plumes not only exist, but are frequent and common. That's good news for two upcoming, multi-billion-dollar missions to Jupiter and its moons.</p><p>The European Space Agency's spacecraft, called the <a href="http://sci.esa.int/juice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer</a>&#xa0;(JUICE), is scheduled to launch in 2022 and reach Jupiter in 2030. That mission calls for two flybys of Europa from about 200 miles away.</p><p>The other mission is NASA's roughly $2 billion Europa Clipper, which may launch sometime between 2022 and 2025 and arrive about half a decade later.</p><p>The Europa Clipper will make 47 flybys and come within 20 miles of the moon's surface. That could give it access to visuals of plumes and the ability to taste of their water for salts, organic compounds, and other chemicals.</p><p>"The ... instruments are designed with Europa's plumes in mind, allowing us to infer the oceans composition and thus its suitability for life, and even to look for direct chemical signs of extant life," Vance said of the Europa Clipper mission.</p><p>Bob Pappalardo, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who wasn't involved in the new work, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/europa-water-jet-hubble-telescope-photos-2016-9">previously told</a> Business Insider that oceans on moons like Europa "may be the most common habitats for life that exist in the universe."</p><p>He added: "If there's life at Europa, it'd almost certainly be an independently evolved form of life. Would it use DNA or RNA? Would it use the same chemistry to store and use energy? Discovering extraterrestrial life would revolutionize our understanding of biology."</p><h2>Watch NASA scientists discuss the new Europa study live</h2><p>NASA's media event about the discovery is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. EDT.</p><p>You can watch the event live <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMDvPCGeE0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on YouTube</a> using the embedded player below.</p><p>&#xa0;</p><p><em>We'll update this story with additional details from the broadcast. Refresh this page for the latest updates.</em></p><div><iframe width="830" height="467" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wwMDvPCGeE0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-hawking-warning-space-aliens-seti-2016-12">Stephen Hawking warned us about contacting aliens, but this astronomer says it's 'too late'</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/ltLwWxe2-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div></hr>

 NASA flew through a blast of alien ocean water in 1997 - and a $2 billion mission may soon 'taste' it for signs of life 

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55b4f53a371d22dc0b8b8f1e-2101-1620/juice_image1.jpg" alt="JUICE_Image1" data-mce-source="ESA" data-link="http://www.americaspace.com/?p=31786" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.americaspace.com/?p=31786">ESA</a></span></p><p class="caption">Illustration of the European Space Agency's JUICE mission to Jupiter and its moons.</p></div><p></p></div></div>In the ultimate quest for life beyond Earth, some of Jupiter's largest moons hold great potential, and Europe plans to explore that potential in the coming years. What's more, their mission just hit a major milestone.</p><p>On July 17, the European Space Agency - Europe's version of NASA - <a href="http://sci.esa.int/juice/56165-preparing-to-build-esas-jupiter-mission/">announced</a> that they were issuing a contract to award the U.S.-equivalent of $384 million to the European-based company Airbus Defense and Space.</p><p>Jupiter has become one of the most likely neighborhoods in our solar system with the right ingredients for extraterrestrial life. That's because scientists have recently come to suspect that three of Jupiter's moons -<a href="http://www.space.com/26905-jupiter-moon-europa-alien-life.html">Europa</a>, <a href="http://www.space.com/28807-jupiter-moon-ganymede-salty-ocean.html">Ganymede</a>, and <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2001/010726/full/news010726-12.html">Callisto</a>-could harbor vast oceans underneath their icy, outer surfaces.</p><p>But to know if there are actual microbial, or even <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/types-of-alien-life-on-europa-2015-2">shrimp-sized</a>, aliens swimming on these moons will require a mission unlike any yet attempted.</p><p>Under this latest contract, which ESA and Airbus are scheduled to sign at the end of the summer, Airbus will be responsible for the development, testing, launch campaign, and in-space commissioning of ESA's "JUpiter ICy moons Explorer," or <a href="http://sci.esa.int/juice/">JUICE,</a> mission.</p><h2>What we know about JUICE so far</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55b4f60b371d2223518b930e-800-800/ganymede-moon.jpg" alt="Ganymede moon" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL/DLR" data-link="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganymede_(moon)#/media/File:Ganymede-moon.jpg" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganymede_(moon)#/media/File:Ganymede-moon.jpg">NASA/JPL/DLR</a></span></p><p class="caption">False-color image of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede.</p></div><p></p></div></div>The JUICE mission is scheduled to launch in 2022 and reach Jupiter's system by 2030. At the point, the spacecraft will begin flying over all three of the giant planet's water moons.</p><p>The spacecraft will give an especially close look at Ganymede - the largest moon of Jupiter and, in fact, the largest moon in the entire solar system.</p><p>"The mission will culminate in a dedicated, eight-month tour around Ganymede, the first time any icy moon has been orbited by a spacecraft," ESA wrote in a <a href="http://sci.esa.int/juice/56165-preparing-to-build-esas-jupiter-mission/">statement</a> announcing the new contract with Airbus.</p><p><a href="http://www.space.com/28807-jupiter-moon-ganymede-salty-ocean.html">Last March</a>, a team of researchers using the powerful Hubble Space Telescope found strong evidence to suggest that Ganymede not only has water underneath its surface, but it could harbor a single, global ocean that is 60 miles thick and contains more water than all of Earth's oceans combined!</p><p>To seek out signs of life on Ganymede, as well as Callisto and Europa, ESA plans to dress up the JUICE spacecraft with a total of "10 state-of-the-art instruments," including:</p><ul><li>Cameras that can snap pictures of the surface in search for any geysers that could be spewing organic-rich water off the planet into space.</li><li>Spectrometers, which can help scientists determine the type of material, such as nitrogen or carbon, that comprises the surface.</li><li>Ice-penetrating radar, to assess how deep the oceans on these moons really are.</li><li>Sensors that can measure the level of radiation these moons absorb as they orbit around Jupiter, which has a belt of intense radiation that wraps around its equator and extends deep into space. Radiation could be an alternative heat source - since the sun is so far away - for the cold waters on these moons.</li></ul><h2>NASA's involvement and future missions</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55b4fa9a371d22c6178b86a4-3150-2363/europa-11.jpg" alt="europa" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech" data-mce-caption="This artist's rendering shows a concept for a future NASA mission to Europa in which a spacecraft would make multiple close flybys of the icy Jovian moon, thought to contain a global subsurface ocean." /><p class="source"><span>NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></p><p class="caption">This artist's rendering shows a concept for NASA's "Clipper" mission to Europa in which a spacecraft would make multiple close flybys of the icy Jovian moon, thought to contain a global subsurface ocean.</p></div><p></p></div></div>NASA will be helping out with the mission by <a href="http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/03/10/europa-clipper-concept-team-aims-for-launch-in-2022/">designing one of the instruments</a> on board. But NASA isn't going to let ESA steal the show.</p><p>NASA is also working on their own mission to Jupiter's watery moons, but it will focus on Europa more than either Ganymede or Callisto.</p><p>Unlike JUICE, which is planned to fly over Europa twice, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-annouces-plans-to-visit-europa-2015-2">NASA's "Europa Clipper"</a> mission hopes to flyby the moon a total of 45 times over the course of three years.</p><p>NASA has yet to give the Clipper mission the green light, but the mission team hopes to get the thumbs up later this year, according to writer <a href="http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/03/10/europa-clipper-concept-team-aims-for-launch-in-2022/">Stephen Clark for Spaceflight Now</a>.</p><p>If completed, the Clipper mission is scheduled to launch the same year as ESA's JUICE mission: 2022.</p><p>Between these two spacecrafts, we'll learn more about these watery moons than we ever knew before. What's more, the information these two mission collect about these moons' surface features and oceanic characteristics (like temperature and salinity) could <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-europa-mission-instruments-2015-6">pave the way</a> for future missions that would land a probe on the surface.</p><p>In other words, the hunt for alien life in the 21st century is just beginning.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/neil-degrasse-tyson-surviving-space-planets-2015-5">Neil deGrasse Tyson: Here's how long you could survive on every planet in our solar system</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="t5aWJkbzqDz_cJs-3113wmVyGzrBiBrz" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 't5aWJkbzqDz_cJs-3113wmVyGzrBiBrz',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Europe just invested over $380 million in an alien-hunting space mission to Jupiter

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bb7b7add08957d1d8b45d6-1024-768/civa_camera_4_view.jpg" alt="rosetta philae comet" data-mce-source="ESA"><p class="source"><span>ESA</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>It's very possible that carbon-carrying comets that smashed into Earth long ago brought the very ingredients needed for life to arise.<p>We know that because spacecraft observing comets from afar helped us discover that they are primarily made of ice, but are also sprinkled with organic compounds - the building blocks of life as we know it.</p><p>But we needed a closer look at those compounds to test the theory. So in&#xa0;November last year, the European Space Agency (ESA) became the first to land a probe on a comet to study its surface.</p><p>The historic touchdown came almost&#xa0;30 years&#xa0;after scientists caught their&#xa0;glimpse of a comet,&#xa0;and began planning how to study them closer.&#xa0;</p><p>The only problem is that ESA's&#xa0;probe <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/first-image-from-the-philae-lander-descending-toward-a-comet-2014-11">didn't exactly stick the landing</a>. (It's difficult to orchestrate a perfect touchdown from 300 million&#xa0;miles away).</p><p>The probe bounced high off the comet twice before tumbling down to a completely unintended landing spot. But the probe, dubbed "Philae," shook off the botched landing, and immediately began using its 10 scientific instruments to take data. However, since it landed in the shade, Philae's solar battery ran out after just two days, and the probe went into hibernation mode.</p><p>Those two days were incredibly fruitful, though. Here's the biggest revelations from the data Philae managed to send back before it went silent. The details were published July 30 in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6247/493.full.pdf">Science</a>.</p><h2>1. A surprisingly complex surface</h2><p>That bumpy landing may have been a blessing in disguise. Between bounces, Philae was able to analyze the surface of two different sides of the comet, and it turns out they're wildly different from each other. One side that scientists have named "Agilkia" is mostly soft and covered with a grainy material. The other side named "Abydos" is much harder.</p><p>Here's what Philae's view&#xa0;looked like on the way down onto the comet's surface.&#xa0;</p><p><div><iframe src="//giphy.com/embed/3o85xpxSJEkc9S40so" width="800" height="800" frameborder="0" style="max-width: 100%" class="giphy-embed" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></p><p>Philae scientists were surprised that the surface was so diverse - they were expecting the entire comet to be covered in a layer of soft material. Some were even concerned the lander might sink into the surface after landing.</p><p>Images from Philae's infrared camera also show the comet is covered in boulders and streaks that resemble wind-tails like those seen on Earth and Mars. In this case scientists think the streaks are caused by streams of high-energy particles bombarding the comet.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table Full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bb7b7add08957d1d8b45d7-808-862/3d_view_of_large_boulder_at_agilkia.png" alt="3D_view_of_large_boulder_at_Agilkia" data-mce-source="ESA" data-mce-caption="A 3D view of a boulder on the Agilkia side of the comet."><p class="source"><span>ESA</span></p><p class="caption">A 3D view of a boulder on the Agilkia side of the comet.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><h2>2. Tons of organics.</h2><p>Philae has two different instruments designed to hunt for organic compounds. One of those instruments found 16 different types of organics on the comet, four of which have never been spotted on a comet before.</p><p>If organic materials like those found on the comet fell onto a world with the right conditions, those organics could give rise to life. Many astronomers think that's one possible way life began on Earth.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table Full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bb7b7add08957d1d8b45d8-1867-788/brightness_variations_of_comet_surface.jpg" alt="Brightness_variations_of_comet_surface" data-mce-source="ESA" data-mce-caption="An image of the comet's surface. The dark patches are likely organics."><p class="source"><span>ESA</span></p><p class="caption">An image of the comet's surface. The dark patches are likely organics.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>The other Philae instrument also detected several organics along with water and carbon dioxide. More data from these instruments will be published soon, and it could have a profound impact on origin-of-life research, the scientists write in the paper describing the results.<h2>3. A porous interior</h2><p>Philae's radio wave transmitter revealed that about three-quarters of the inside of the "head" is made of empty space. The head is the top section in the image below:</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table Full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bb7b7add08957d1d8b45d9-936-702/comet_on_25_march_2015_navcam.jpg" alt="Comet_on_25_March_2015_NavCam" data-mce-source="ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM - CC BY-SA IGO 3.0"><p class="source"><span>ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM - CC BY-SA IGO 3.0</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>This is the closest look we've ever gotten at a comet, and it's revolutionary. We never would have learned any of this without landing a probe on the surface of one.<p>"Taken together, these first measurements performed at the surface of 67P profoundly modify our view of comets," the researchers wrote.</p><p>But scientists hope that this doesn't mark the end of the mission. Philae hibernated for about seven months after running out of juice, but it finally <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/esa-rosetta-philae-comet-lander-wakes-up-2015-6">got enough sunlight to respond</a> to mission control in June. Since then communication between Philae and Earth has been spotty at best.</p><p>The last contact with the probe happened on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/esa-rosetta-philae-lander-falls-silent-2015-7">July 9</a>.</p><p>The team also has to worry about the Rosetta spacecraft that's orbiting the comet. Rosetta is measuring how the comet changes as it barrels toward the sun. The team is hopeful that Philae will become more responsive as the comet is exposed to more and more sunlight.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/remotely-hacked-prevent-happening-chrysler-2015-7">These guys remotely hacked a Jeep - here's how to prevent it from happening to you</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="0zczhmdjri0xRZR8hQe_fLjroJS8geGB" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '0zczhmdjri0xRZR8hQe_fLjroJS8geGB',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

A mission almost 30 years in the making has just profoundly changed what we know about comets

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/553ed4a06bb3f7a96f1a346b-3000-2000/6830698011_372f7ab9b5_o.jpg" border="0" alt="mars" data-mce-source="Cyril Rana on Flickr" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/retrogui_photos/6830698011/in/photolist-kR8PaM-kR8DdT-4fnYtk-7HLWHo-mjwL11-bpB7xn-d4B9rS-bMZjZi-kRaJkm-n8uvdD-9H1z7w-aych2T-79BZRA-5kYFxU-79kRu8-d4B8dW-fYznd-8nKFYF-qJQXsq-d5vFz1-6tgepL-e1FEf1-d4B94U-7kZXwo-ekUJHF-iPgCBT-4hpPFH-cHTRsJ-4XynNk-cJktT5-6Bm3oV-og5cYH-6drAXL-eJkE7h-cUYaNo-cJfBmQ-4PwNDm-dtxbni-o6E6YJ-8Zgz5N-7F2uLi-6kkq8b-jXmtVu-qAWnz6-4fqiEK-oxY4wh-4fnCfV-mgjLpE-mzQRCN-9EfwP"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/retrogui_photos/6830698011/in/photolist-kR8PaM-kR8DdT-4fnYtk-7HLWHo-mjwL11-bpB7xn-d4B9rS-bMZjZi-kRaJkm-n8uvdD-9H1z7w-aych2T-79BZRA-5kYFxU-79kRu8-d4B8dW-fYznd-8nKFYF-qJQXsq-d5vFz1-6tgepL-e1FEf1-d4B94U-7kZXwo-ekUJHF-iPgCBT-4hpPFH-cHTRsJ-4XynNk-cJktT5-6Bm3oV-og5cYH-6drAXL-eJkE7h-cUYaNo-cJfBmQ-4PwNDm-dtxbni-o6E6YJ-8Zgz5N-7F2uLi-6kkq8b-jXmtVu-qAWnz6-4fqiEK-oxY4wh-4fnCfV-mgjLpE-mzQRCN-9EfwP">Cyril Rana on Flickr</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>The same microbes that grow on cheese can also grow inside a Mars simulation chamber.</p><p>That might not sound like a big deal. But what if those microbes somehow made it to the real Mars?</p><p>We've launched tons of spacecraft, probes, and rovers to the red planet, all potentially carrying a few microbes from Earth.</p><p>Accidentally contaminating Mars could have big consequences. It might trick us into thinking we've discovered life on Mars when it's actually just Earth-grown stowaways.</p><p>But in some sense we've already contaminated it.</p><p>"Every mission to Mars makes it dirtier," Catharine Conley, a planetary protection officer at NASA, told Business Insider.</p><h2>Why NASA has a celestial sheriff</h2><p>Conley probably has the coolest job title at NASA, but it comes with a huge responsibility.</p><p>A <a href="http://planetaryprotection.nasa.gov/">planetary protection officer</a> is charged with making sure we don't contaminate the rest of the universe with life from Earth. And, even more importantly, the reverse - to make sure we don't bring any alien microbes home.</p><p>The job was created because of an international law called the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. Specifically, <a href="http://history.nasa.gov/printFriendly/1967treaty.html" target="_parent">Article IX</a> is what a planetary protection officer worries about. Mostly just this one sentence:</p><p>"States Parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so as to <strong>avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter</strong> and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose."</p><p>That's why you couldn't just shove the body of your astronaut friend out of the airlock if he or she <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-if-someone-dies-in-space-2015-4">died during space travel</a>. There's a chance (a very small chance) that the body could drift to an alien world and colonize it with Earth microbes.</p><p>Even unmanned space exploration missions have to address contamination risk, but it's pretty impossible to completely sterilize spacecraft and space probes before they leave Earth. So the creators of the Outer Space Treaty decided that risk was worth what we could learn from exploring the universe.</p><p>They settled on a 1-in-10,000 risk. That means any space exploration mission must have less than a 1-in-10,000 chance of contaminating an alien world.</p><p>"It's a moderate level," Conley said. "It's not extremely careful, but it's not extremely lax."</p><h2>Problem #1: Bringing Earth to alien worlds</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/553b0d966bb3f70e47439041-2905-1935/rtx6w8n.jpg" border="0" alt="Mars" data-mce-source="REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona" data-mce-caption="The Robotic Arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander carries a scoop of Martian soil bound for the spacecraft's microscope in handout photo released on June 13, 2008."><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona</span></p><p class="caption">The Robotic Arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander carries a scoop of Martian soil bound for the spacecraft's microscope in handout photo released on June 13, 2008.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Mars has bared the brunt of human meddling. It's unlikely any spacecraft that landed there was 100% sterile.</p><p>NASA sends its spaceships and rovers through a <a href="http://planetaryprotection.nasa.gov/overview">microbe-killing heat blast</a>, but recent evidence shows that some particularly hardy microbes can survive.</p><p>The good news is that Mars (and most of the rest of the solar system) seems pretty hostile to life. So anything we've carried there isn't going to flourish even if it survived the journey.</p><p><a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/fact_sheets/viking.pdf">NASA's Viking missions</a> pretty much confirmed that at least the surface of Mars isn't conducive to life. It'll most likely kill off any bacteria that land on Martian soil. So now anything that goes to Mars has about as many microbes as a human hand, since the risk of contamination is so low.</p><p>There are, however, a few promising potential homes for life in our solar system, including <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/types-of-alien-life-on-europa-2015-2">Jupiter's moon Europa</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/active-hydrothermal-vents-on-enceladus-2015-3">Saturn's moon Enceladus</a>. Any mission that comes close to either of those moons is treated with a lot of caution, Conley said.</p><p>For example, the European Space Agency's (ESA) upcoming mission to Jupiter needs special attention, since that probe will fly so close to Europa, Conley said.</p><p>ESA wants to make a couple of very tight passes around Europa, but only if its spacecraft, named the <a href="http://sci.esa.int/juice/" target="_blank">Jupiter Icey moons Explorer (JUICE)</a>, proves it has excellent control - crash-landing on Europa simply isn't an option.</p><p>To mitigate that risk, ESA will first command JUICE to make a few test orbits around Jupiter. If all seems well, they'll program the spacecraft to fly by Europa a few times, gathering a bunch of data in the process, then return back into orbit around Jupiter.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54d0045769bedd1c3c35b1c5-1385-1024/pia19048_hires.jpg" border="0" alt="Europa" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute" data-link="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA19048"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA19048">NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute</a></span></p><p class="caption">Jupiter's moon Europa.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>So what would happen if we did contaminate somewhere in our solar system with Earth microbes - and ones that could survive on an alien world? </strong>A clean-up mission would be too expensive. The bottom line is that we "recognize that there is a risk of failure," Conley said. We take the risk, Conley said, because what we gain from space exploration is worth it.</p><p>We're exploring as carefully and as smartly as we know how, but eventually places like Mars - despite being so hostile to life - might end up too contaminated for certain types of microbe-hunting scientific experiments.</p><h3>Problem #2: Bringing aliens to Earth</h3><p><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">Bringing Earth microbes to an alien world would be bad, but the reverse scenario</span> is a much bigger concern, Conley said. We don't want to accidentally bring something nasty, like the fictional <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066769/" target="_blank">Andromeda Strain</a>, to humanity's only haven.</p><p>So making sure we don't contaminate Earth with extra-terrestrial microbes is the highest priority of a planetary protection officer.</p><p>As space agencies plan more and more missions out into the Solar System, it's becoming a serious concern.</p><p>For example, if Mars astronauts got infected with something while on Mars, should we bring them back to Earth? The short answer is no, Conley said during a talk at the recent <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CB4QFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fh2m.exploremars.org%2F&amp;ei=cCuDVcWTJ8S0sASUh4LwAg&amp;usg=AFQjCNF-X-iMziyQFY_D2OnPBa2otW4_kQ&amp;bvm=bv.96041959,d.cWc">Humans to Mars Summit</a> in Washington, D.C.</p><p>The Apollo program, in fact, set up a quarantine facility to receive the first astronauts who returned from the moon, since they were covered in moon dust. Moon rock samples were cautiously sent to biosafety labs. We soon learned the moon didn't harbor any life, so later missions didn't use the same kind of rigorous screening.</p><p>But when we bring people and samples back from still unexplored worlds like Mars, we'll need to exercise the same kind of caution. And we have a lot of policy and protocol to establish before that happens.</p><p>The United Nations, ethicists, and lawyers are already meeting to discuss the best way to handle future manned missions.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/urthecast-first-ultra-hd-space-videos-iris-camera-2015-6">Soon you can take selfies from the world's most expensive satellite - for free</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="J2ajRwdTpenEOn2wPmm6Xq-LFRltlCgx" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'J2ajRwdTpenEOn2wPmm6Xq-LFRltlCgx',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Here's why you can't just push a dead body into outer space

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b35047ffebf6b1c008b4625-2000/enceladus-saturn-moon-subsurface-ocean-water-spray-illustration-nasa-jpl.jpeg" border="0" alt="enceladus saturn moon subsurface ocean water spray illustration nasa jpl" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech" data-mce-caption="Saturn's moon Enceladus sprays saltwater into space from a hidden ocean. NASA's Cassini probe in 2015 &amp;quottasted&quot; organic molecules in the water while flying through the icy plume." data-link="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19058.jpg" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19058.jpg">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">Saturn's moon Enceladus sprays saltwater into space from a hidden ocean. NASA's Cassini probe in 2015 "tasted" organic molecules in the water while flying through the icy plume.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/enceladus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Enceladus</a>, an ice-encrusted moon of Saturn, hides an ocean of saltwater that blasts ice into space.</strong></li><li><strong>NASA flew its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/cassini-mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cassini</a> spacecraft through the ice geysers in 2015.</strong></li><li><strong>Scientists continue to analyze the data, and on Wednesday a group announced that they've detected complex organic molecules.</strong></li><li><strong>Though not proof of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/alien-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alien life</a>, that's a good sign for the habitability of Enceladus.</strong></li></ul><hr /><p>Before NASA <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-cassini-probe-destroyed-by-saturn-2017-9">destroyed</a> its Cassini spacecraft in the clouds of Saturn, the space agency flew the robot through geysers of ice that shoot out of the planet's moon Enceladus.</p><p>The plumes come from a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/water-space-volume-planets-moons-2016-10">giant saltwater ocean</a> hidden beneath the moon's icy crust. The water seeps through cracks at Enceladus' south pole, where they boil off into the vacuum of space and form 300-mile-tall curtains of ice particles.</p><p>Ever since Cassini's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">nuclear-powered</a> geyser-dive in October 2015, scientists have pored over the trove of data the probe collected. They've found all sorts of eyebrow-raising chemistry, including small organic (carbon-containing) molecules such as acetylene, formaldehyde, methane, and propane.</p><p>But this week, researchers announced the detection of long, messy strings of organic molecules that could be indicative of an environment in which alien life could thrive.</p><p>"We cannot decide whether the origin of this complex material is biotic or not, but there is astrobiological potential," <a href="https://www.geow.uni-heidelberg.de/researchgroups/postberg/khawaja.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nozair Khawaja</a>, a researcher at Heidelberg University, <a href="https://gizmodo.com/the-discovery-of-complex-organic-molecules-on-saturn-s-1827173141" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Gizmodo</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b3504e3019a4619008b46be-2143/cassini-saturn-grand-finale-illustration-artwork-nasa-jpl-caltech-8.jpg" border="0" alt="cassini saturn grand finale illustration artwork nasa jpl caltech 8" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech" data-mce-caption="An artist's rendering of Cassini flying through the water-ice plumes of Saturn's moon Enceladus." /><p class="source"><span>NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></p><p class="caption">An artist's rendering of Cassini flying through the water-ice plumes of Saturn's moon Enceladus.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Translation: It just <em>might</em> be signs of microbial aliens, though it's too soon to say.</p><p>Khawaja and a multi-national group of 20 other space scientists published <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0246-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a study</a> in the journal Nature on Wednesday about their discovery of the organic molecules, which they call macromolecular compounds.</p><p>"The discovery of macromolecular compounds originating from a moderately warm water environment will fuel interest worldwide in such icy moons as possible habitats for extraterrestrial life," <a href="https://www.geow.uni-heidelberg.de/forschungsgruppen/trieloff/trieloff.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mario Trieloff</a>, another study author, said in <a href="https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/presse/news2018/pm20180628_complex-organic-molecules-on-saturns-moon-enceladus.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a press release</a>.</p><h2>How Enceladus might brew complex organic muck</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b352f758faac31e008b470d-1200/enceladus-complex-organic-molecules-film-ocean-water-geyser-vents-esa.jpg" border="0" alt="enceladus complex organic molecules film ocean water geyser vents esa" data-mce-source="European Space Agency" data-mce-caption="Bubbles of organic compounds may rise to the surface of Enceladus hidden ocean, where they form a mucky film before being blasted into space through deep cracks in the moon's icy crust." data-link="https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/presse/news2018/pm20180628_complex-organic-molecules-on-saturns-moon-enceladus.html" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/presse/news2018/pm20180628_complex-organic-molecules-on-saturns-moon-enceladus.html">European Space Agency</a></span></p><p class="caption">Bubbles of organic compounds may rise to the surface of Enceladus' hidden ocean. There, they could form a mucky film before being blasted into space through deep cracks in the moon's icy crust.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Life as we know it is carbon-based. The atom makes it possible to store and copy genetic information, is essential to building proteins, and helps store and shuttle energy. Liquid water is an essential ingredient, too - so when scientists find the two together in space, the stakes become interesting.</p><p>A warm, salty ocean with organic molecules is no guarantee of alien life, of course. Some oceans, such as the one under Pluto's icy crust, are likely <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pluto-subsurface-ocean-2016-12">deadly to us</a>. But researchers keep finding more evidence that Enceladus' environment is conducive to life, rather than dangerous.</p><p>Recent studies using Cassini's water-spray data suggest hydrogen is bubbling up from the moon's ocean bottom, possibly from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturn-encealdus-hydrothermal-vent-aliens-2017-4">structures called hydrothermal vents</a>. Khawaja said in the press release that gas bubbles that likely hail from Enceladus' seafloor "probably transport the molecules to the surface, where they form an organic film."</p><p>He added that the bubbles are hydrophobic or water-repelling, which is why why they form a film on top of the water as opposed to dissolving.</p><p>"From there, [the film] is launched into space together with ocean water droplets," he said.</p><p>Hydrothermal vents can generate hydrogen gas. They litter Earth's seafloor near volcanically active regions, spewing out nutrient-rich hot water that may make them bastions of life. In fact, scientists in 2017 announced the discovery of what may be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oldest-fossils-life-hydrothermal-vents-2017-3">3.77-to-4.28-billion-year-old fossils</a> that originated at hydrothermal vents on Earth.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58b70bdbae21f920008b4637-1183/undefined" border="0" alt="hydrothermal vent noaa oar nurp" data-mce-source="OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP); NOAA" data-mce-caption="A hydrothermal vent or &amp;quotblack smoker chimney.&quot;" data-link="http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/nur04506.htm" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/nur04506.htm">OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP); NOAA</a></span></p><p class="caption">A hydrothermal vent or "black smoker chimney."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>But the new study in Nature is far from definitive evidence of organic alien goop.</p><p>Water is being pulled toward Enceladus' core and heated up under pressure, so it's possible that carbon that's been present in Enceladus since its formation (every world contains a little) is reacting with minerals to form more complex molecules. Ancient asteroids that drift through space also harbor complex organic molecules, but are almost certainly devoid of life.</p><p>Cassini's instruments weren't designed to analyze organic molecules for alien or non-alien origins, and the spacecraft is now gone.</p><p>It may be decades before we find out for sure: There's not yet a mission funded to return to Enceladus, and Saturn's increasingly famous moon is roughly 890 million miles away, so it can take nearly seven years to get a probe there.</p><h2>Seeking signs of life at Europa</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59f0d5103e9d2514048b4f45-1685/europa-clipper-flyby-mission-illustration-15-104b-nasa-jpl-caltech.jpg" border="0" alt="europa clipper flyby mission illustration 15 104b nasa jpl caltech" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech" data-mce-caption="An illustration of NASA's Europa Clipper mission flying over the icy moon of Jupiter." data-link="http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-europa-mission-begins-with-selection-of-science-instruments" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-europa-mission-begins-with-selection-of-science-instruments">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of NASA's Europa Clipper mission flying over the icy moon of Jupiter.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Those hoping to find signs of alien life shouldn't despair, though.</p><p>Both NASA and the European Space Agency are planning to send spacecraft to Jupiter's icy moon Europa. That ice-covered world has an even <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-water-ice-volume-versus-planets-moons-2016-11">larger subsurface ocean</a>, is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jupiter-moon-europa-ocean-water-plume-evidence-2018-5">spraying out water</a>, and might also be rich with a soup of organic molecules that alien microbes could feed on or generate.</p><p>The ESA probe, called the <a href="http://sci.esa.int/juice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer</a> (JUICE), is scheduled to launch in 2022 and reach Jupiter in 2030. The mission calls for two flybys of Europa from about 200 miles away.</p><p>The other mission is NASA's roughly $2 billion Europa Clipper probe, which may launch sometime between 2022 and 2025 and arrive about five years later.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5afdf90a47ac5929008b4df0-2400/europa.png" border="0" alt="Europa" style="color: #000000;" data-mce-source="Jenny Cheng and Skye Gould/Business Insider" /><p class="source"><span>Jenny Cheng and Skye Gould/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">The size of Europa's ocean compared to Earth's. Amounts of water are shown in zettaliters (ZL), a unit that's equal to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 liters or 1 billion cubic kilometers.</p></div><p></p></div></div>The Europa Clipper will make 47 flybys and come within 20 miles of Europa's surface. That would give the probe unprecedented access to water plumes and the ability to sample the water for salts, organic compounds, and other chemicals.</p><p>"The instruments are designed with Europa's plumes in mind, allowing us to infer the oceans composition and thus its suitability for life, and even to look for direct chemical signs of extant life," <a href="https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Vance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Vance</a>, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), previously told Business Insider.</p><p><a href="https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Pappalardo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bob Pappalardo</a>, another NASA JPL scientist, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/europa-water-jet-hubble-telescope-photos-2016-9">previously told</a> Business Insider that oceans on moons like Europa may be the most common habitats for life that exist in the universe.</p><p>"If there's life at Europa, it'd almost certainly be an independently evolved form of life. Would it use DNA or RNA?" Pappalardo said. "Would it use the same chemistry to store and use energy? Discovering extraterrestrial life would revolutionize our understanding of biology."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-discovers-first-food-source-potential-aliens-saturn-moon-enceladus-2017-4">NASA just discovered the first food source for potential aliens</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/e6gwi6wb-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

NASA 'tasted' complex organic compounds in a blast of water from one of Saturn's moons - and can't yet rule out the possibility that they're from alien life

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Scientists launch JUICE mission to explore Jupiter's icy moons

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Space science missions to look forward to in 2022

Marcia Sekhose