Probing For Signs Of Life On Europa, One Of Jupiter's Icy Moons, Subject Of NASA Ames Workshop
MOUNTAIN VIEW (KCBS)— Dozens of planetary scientists gathered in Mountain View on Wednesday to talk about sending a space probe to one of Jupiter's moons.
Scientists think it's possible that life may exist under the icy surface of Europa, one of Jupiter's four larger-sized moons.
Amanda Hendrix of Planetary Science Institute in Tuscon, Arizona was one of about 100 people who attended a workshop at NASA Ames Research Center to discuss how to get a space probe to Europa, which is mostly covered in ice.
"It probably has a subsurface ocean, maybe a host of life, might have geologic activity such as plumes, kind of like geysers," she said.
The geysers, photographed by the Hubble space telescope are the real interest for exploration.
"It's kind of a giant Old Faithful," said Pete Worden, director at NASA Ames. "The idea of this workshop is to begin to think, 'How do we sample that plume? How do we do it in this mission that we're going to do here probably early in the 2020s?'"
President Obama's budget for NASA includes some funding for a Europa mission likely to cost over a billion dollars.