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The ocean-carrying moon of Jupiter, Europa, seen by NASA's Galileo spacecraft.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – Government agencies may not have a monopoly on space hunting missions for life any longer.
Breakthrough Initiatives, which is already exploring the skies looking for signals from distant alien civilizations, is planning to look for E.T. on worlds close to home, the founder, Yuri Milner, said.
"We are thinking very seriously about solar system-based initiatives," Milner said on Sunday (4 November) at the seventh annual Breakthrough Prize ceremony at NASA Ames Research Center. "We think, within our foundation, that we can do, with private funding, to complement the projects funded by the government?" [6 Most Likely Places for Alien Life in the Solar System]
Milner, a billion-dollar technology investor, founded Breakthrough Initiatives in 2015 with his wife Julia. The organization is already funding the $ 100 million Breakthrough Listen project, which seeks out smart alien pings, and Percé's $ 100 million effort to develop a tiny, laser-powered spaceship to explore the systems. exoplanetary nearby.
A potential breakthrough mission to a destination of our own solar system would probably also have a budget in that neighborhood; Milner said program funds are an order of magnitude less than governments can provide. (For the prospect: NASA's rover 2020, which will look for signs of the old life of the red planet, costs around $ 2.1 billion.)
"But we can take more risks," said Milner.
So where could this putative drilling mission go? Milner cited as possibilities the moon of Jupiter, Europa, and the satellite of Saturn, Enceladus, who both have an ocean of liquid water under their ice shell, as well as Venus.
Venus may seem like a strange choice, as its surface is dry enough and hot enough to melt the lead. But the conditions in the clouds, about 40 km away, are much more conducive to life, said Milner.
Milner also mentioned Mars as a potential residence for life, but he said the Red Planet was a less "realistic" breakthrough target.
"On Mars, many people believe that you have to go very deep underground – probably meters, or even tens of meters, to see something potentially interesting," Milner said. "And March, most experts agree that if you find anything, it will probably be historical artifacts of life, rather than a living organism, but you never know."
The inclusion of Enceladus on the list should not be a big surprise. Last November, Milner had stated that Breakthrough Initiatives was considering the possibility of launching a probe that would look for signs of life in the plume of water vapor and other materials floating in the southern polar region. Enceladus. This material comes from the ocean buried by the Moon, measuring 315 km wide (504 km), scientists said.
Sunday's ceremony honored the winners of the Breakthrough Award, presented annually for groundbreaking research in physics, mathematics and life sciences. Seven awards of $ 3 million – the richest in science – were presented this year, along with a few other awards, bringing the total award to $ 22 million.
Mike Wall's book on the quest for extraterrestrial life, "Out There," will be published on November 13 by Grand Central Publishing. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. follow us @Spacedotcom or Facebook. Originally posted on Space.com.
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