Life on Europa? Scientists Discuss Idea of a Landed Mission on the Jovian Moon

Evidence that Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa may be able to support life has prompted a team of NASA scientists to consider science goals for a landed spacecraft mission to its surface.

A new article published in Astrobiology presents several main objectives of such a mission because, as Robert Pappalardo, the paper's lead author and a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a press release, "studies like these help us focus on the technologies required to get us there, and on the data needed to help us scout out possible landing locations."

Among the most notable questions scientists would like to answer is regarding the composition of the reddish "freckles" and cracks staining the moon's icy surface, and whether or not there are organic molecules, among the buildling blocks of life, are to be found.

Other priorities include improving images of Europa. At this point, scientists have only had paparazzi-esque moments to snap photos from a distance, first with NASA's Voyager 2 in 1979 and then Galileo in the mid-to-late 1990s. To get a firm look at the space body on a human scale would, scientists explain, provide the needed context for compositional measurments, among other things.

Furthermore, scientists report in the paper that, other major priorities are based in questions in regards to geological activity and the presence of water. At this point, researchers don't know, for example, how active the surface is.

Ultimately, and what all this information ultimately points to is, the question of whether or not Europa could possibly be home to some kind of form of life.

"Europa is the most likely place in our solar system beyond Earth to have life today," Pappalardo said, "and a landed mission would be the best way to search for signs of life."