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NASA has officially confirmed a mission on Jupiter's Moon, Europa, a hike that could help determine if the icy celestial body could be habitable for humans and sustain life.
Known as the Europa Clipper mission, which was first explored in 2017, the government space agency is in the final stages of final design of the spacecraft that will travel to the moon. From there, it will move to construction and eventually test the payload of the satellite and science.
"We are all excited about the decision that will make the Europa Clipper mission a decisive step towards uncovering the mysteries of this oceanic world," Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy administrator of the Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement. "We rely on the scientific knowledge received from the flagship Galileo and Cassini vessels and we are working to improve our understanding of our cosmic origin, and even of life elsewhere."
MYSTERIOUS CURRENT ALTERNATIVES FOUND ON JUPITER
A 2018 study was concerned that Europa's surface is extremely porous, which could damage any probe on its surface.
The space agency said the mission's goal would be to determine whether Europa, the sixth of Jupiter's 79 known moons, "could harbor conditions conducive to life, improving our knowledge of astrobiology".
The conditions on Europa were previously equated with the exoplanet Barnard B, a "super-Earth" located 30 000 billion kilometers from the Earth. According to a NASA statement from July 2018, it probably has a surface temperature of about 238 degrees below zero and may have oceans beneath its icy surface.
According to a study published in June, the Hubble Space Telescope has detected the presence of sodium chloride (NaCl) on the surface of the ocean.
"If this sodium chloride really reflects the internal composition, then [Europa’s ocean] could be more similar to Earth than previously thought, "told Space.com, the study's lead author, Samantha Trumbo.
NASA said its goal for the Europa Clipper mission was to launch as early as 2023, but added that its core commitment "supports a launch preparation date by 2025".
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