Are There Lakes Hiding on Mars? Echoes From the Deep Raise This Tantalizing Question
NASA Hopes to Find Direct Evidence of Past Life on Mars With 2021 Landing
NASA's Europa Clipper Is a Go
Eight of the Most Important Space Discoveries Since the Apollo Landings
NASA Considers a Robotic Lander to Search for Signs of Life on Jupiter’s Moon
Vapor Plumes on Jupiter's Moon, Europa, Show New Evidence of Water
Alien Life Might Live in Our Own Solar System
Cassini Detects Signs of Conditions Friendly to Life
Sponsored
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Before that, he worked at Nashville Public Radio for six years. He’s gathered tape for The New York Times, contributed to a growing list of podcasts, and done national features for NPR on everything from bats to meningitis. 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Echoes From the Deep Raise This Tantalizing Question","publishDate":1626971721,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Are There Lakes Hiding on Mars? Echoes From the Deep Raise This Tantalizing Question | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>In 2018, a highly sophisticated instrument probing the surface of Mars called \u003ca href=\"https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/projects/MARSIS/\">MARSIS\u003c/a> (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding) detected radar echoes from an area deep beneath the dry, frigid surface of the planet’s southern polar region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of researchers analyzing that data from the European \u003ca href=\"https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>Mars Express\u003c/i>\u003c/a> spacecraft were excited by a tempting possibility: the radar pings could have reflected off a lake of liquid water laying hidden below the surface of the planet, a protected underworld.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975872\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-800x647.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"647\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-800x647.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-1020x825.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-160x129.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-768x621.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-1536x1243.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa.jpg 1749w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illustration of ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, in orbit around Mars. \u003ccite>(ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Later, the researchers identified several more similar reflections nearby. And just last month, two scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/study-looks-more-closely-at-mars-underground-water-signals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> reported finding \u003c/a> dozens of the unusual formations, deepening the mystery further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The JPL scientists, examining 15 years of MARSIS observations, found the lake-like, radar-reflecting bodies were actually spread across an area much broader than suggested by the original findings from back in 2018, and at greater range of depths below the planet’s surface. The \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25997/subsurface-lakes-or-something-else/\">region surrounds Mars’ South Pole.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-800x928.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"928\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-800x928.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-1020x1183.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-160x186.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-768x891.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech.jpg 1155w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of Mars’ southern polar region showing the spots where the ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft detected strong radar echoes, initially interpreted as caused by underground lakes. \u003ccite>(ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>All of this research raises a tantalizing question: Are there lakes hiding on Mars?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Ghost Lakes, or Something Else?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>If the MARSIS radar reflections are caused by pools of actual, liquid water, researchers will have found another place in the solar system with the potential to harbor a life-friendly environment; a possible gold mine for astrobiologists searching for life beyond Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, there’s reason to be skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the so-called lakes are within a mile of Mars’ polar surface, where temperatures, as low as -63 degrees Celsius, should freeze water solid. Even briney water with a colder freezing point has little chance of remaining liquid under these frigid conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Could heat flowing outward from \u003ca href=\"https://www.seis-insight.eu/en/public-2/martian-science/internal-models-of-mars\"> deep within Mars\u003c/a> keep temperatures near the planet’s surface warm enough to thaw ice? Might there be active \u003ca href=\"https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/exploring-the-planets/online/solar-system/mars/surface/volcanoes/\">volcanism\u003c/a> going on down there?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers have considered these possibilities, but find them unlikely. The flow of heat from Mars’ interior would need to be double what scientists understand the planet’s internal thermal dynamics are capable of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they haven’t identified any strong evidence of current or recent volcanic activity at the South Pole, which throws a brick of frozen ice on that idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, lakes? Yes or no? At this time, the answer is not certain one way or the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dozens of mysterious radar reflections spread around Mars’ South Pole are like a swarm of ghosts: we have sensed their presence, but so far their true nature eludes explanation.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Clues to Mars’ Past?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Whatever the unusual radar reflections detected by MARSIS turn out to be, their discovery and further investigation may yield more clues to secrets of Mars’ past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975871\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975871\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-800x433.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-800x433.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-1020x552.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-768x416.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-1536x832.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-1920x1039.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers.jpg 1995w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of the ice cap at Mars’ South Pole. Layers of water, ice, frozen carbon dioxide, and dust built up over a billion years. \u003ccite>(ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists are interested in what Mars’ southern polar region can tell us about the planet’s climate history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last billion or so years, Mars’ climate shifted between warmer, wetter conditions and cold, dry spells. Layer upon layer of water-ice, frozen carbon dioxide, and dust have built up to form a \u003ca href=\"https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Water_at_Martian_south_pole\">vast ice cap\u003c/a>. By studying the layers, scientists can learn about the planet’s past, similar to how paleoclimatologists on Earth track ancient climate by studying the growth rings of trees or the surface of granite boulders embedded in glacial moraines.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Hunt For Water on Mars\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Mars exploration is all about the search for liquid water, and the possibly life-friendly environments it could nurture. Scientists are thirsty to find Martian water, wherever and whenever it may have existed: flowing down crater walls in seasonal bursts; underground, away from the dry, frigid conditions on the planet’s surface; or deep in Mars’ distant past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That Mars long ago possessed copious amounts of liquid surface water is an almost indisputable fact, based on many observations and measurements by orbital spacecraft, landers and rovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975867\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975867\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-800x583.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"583\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-800x583.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-1020x743.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-768x559.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-1536x1118.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS.jpg 1648w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An image captured by NASA’s Perseverance rover of a tall mound of sediment on the floor of Jezero Crater on Mars. The sediment is believed to have been deposited by a river flowing into the crater when it was filled with water, long ago. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASUMSSS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/\">Curiosity rover\u003c/a> is currently crawling up the slope of a mountain in a 90-mile wide crater that once held a vast lake. The newer \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/\">Perseverance \u003c/a>robot is prospecting the dry lakebed of Jezero Crater, as well as a complex of sediments deposited by a river that once flowed into it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both rovers are probing mineral and geological clues left behind by water now long dried up, piecing together a window into Mars’ past environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But can the life-giving liquid be found anywhere on Mars today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only further exploration can answer this.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Dozens of mysterious radar reflections spread around Mars’ South Pole are like a swarm of ghosts: we have sensed their presence, but their true nature eludes explanation. ","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704846505,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":25,"wordCount":872},"headData":{"title":"Are There Lakes Hiding on Mars? Echoes From the Deep Raise This Tantalizing Question | KQED","description":"Dozens of mysterious radar reflections spread around Mars’ South Pole are like a swarm of ghosts: we have sensed their presence, but their true nature eludes explanation. ","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Are There Lakes Hiding on Mars? Echoes From the Deep Raise This Tantalizing Question","datePublished":"2021-07-22T16:35:21.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T00:28:25.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"source":"Astronomy","sticky":false,"path":"/science/1975865/are-there-lakes-hiding-on-mars-echoes-from-the-deep-raise-this-tantalizing-question","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In 2018, a highly sophisticated instrument probing the surface of Mars called \u003ca href=\"https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/projects/MARSIS/\">MARSIS\u003c/a> (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding) detected radar echoes from an area deep beneath the dry, frigid surface of the planet’s southern polar region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of researchers analyzing that data from the European \u003ca href=\"https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>Mars Express\u003c/i>\u003c/a> spacecraft were excited by a tempting possibility: the radar pings could have reflected off a lake of liquid water laying hidden below the surface of the planet, a protected underworld.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975872\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-800x647.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"647\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-800x647.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-1020x825.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-160x129.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-768x621.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa-1536x1243.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/MarsExpress_Auto98-esa.jpg 1749w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illustration of ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, in orbit around Mars. \u003ccite>(ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Later, the researchers identified several more similar reflections nearby. And just last month, two scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/study-looks-more-closely-at-mars-underground-water-signals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> reported finding \u003c/a> dozens of the unusual formations, deepening the mystery further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The JPL scientists, examining 15 years of MARSIS observations, found the lake-like, radar-reflecting bodies were actually spread across an area much broader than suggested by the original findings from back in 2018, and at greater range of depths below the planet’s surface. The \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25997/subsurface-lakes-or-something-else/\">region surrounds Mars’ South Pole.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975869\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-800x928.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"928\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-800x928.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-1020x1183.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-160x186.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech-768x891.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25997_bright-radar-reflections-web-ESA-NASA-JPL-Caltech.jpg 1155w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of Mars’ southern polar region showing the spots where the ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft detected strong radar echoes, initially interpreted as caused by underground lakes. \u003ccite>(ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>All of this research raises a tantalizing question: Are there lakes hiding on Mars?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Ghost Lakes, or Something Else?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>If the MARSIS radar reflections are caused by pools of actual, liquid water, researchers will have found another place in the solar system with the potential to harbor a life-friendly environment; a possible gold mine for astrobiologists searching for life beyond Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, there’s reason to be skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the so-called lakes are within a mile of Mars’ polar surface, where temperatures, as low as -63 degrees Celsius, should freeze water solid. Even briney water with a colder freezing point has little chance of remaining liquid under these frigid conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Could heat flowing outward from \u003ca href=\"https://www.seis-insight.eu/en/public-2/martian-science/internal-models-of-mars\"> deep within Mars\u003c/a> keep temperatures near the planet’s surface warm enough to thaw ice? Might there be active \u003ca href=\"https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/exploring-the-planets/online/solar-system/mars/surface/volcanoes/\">volcanism\u003c/a> going on down there?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers have considered these possibilities, but find them unlikely. The flow of heat from Mars’ interior would need to be double what scientists understand the planet’s internal thermal dynamics are capable of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they haven’t identified any strong evidence of current or recent volcanic activity at the South Pole, which throws a brick of frozen ice on that idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, lakes? Yes or no? At this time, the answer is not certain one way or the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dozens of mysterious radar reflections spread around Mars’ South Pole are like a swarm of ghosts: we have sensed their presence, but so far their true nature eludes explanation.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Clues to Mars’ Past?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Whatever the unusual radar reflections detected by MARSIS turn out to be, their discovery and further investigation may yield more clues to secrets of Mars’ past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975871\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975871\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-800x433.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-800x433.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-1020x552.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-768x416.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-1536x832.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers-1920x1039.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/mars-south-pole-layers.jpg 1995w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An illustration of the ice cap at Mars’ South Pole. Layers of water, ice, frozen carbon dioxide, and dust built up over a billion years. \u003ccite>(ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists are interested in what Mars’ southern polar region can tell us about the planet’s climate history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last billion or so years, Mars’ climate shifted between warmer, wetter conditions and cold, dry spells. Layer upon layer of water-ice, frozen carbon dioxide, and dust have built up to form a \u003ca href=\"https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Water_at_Martian_south_pole\">vast ice cap\u003c/a>. By studying the layers, scientists can learn about the planet’s past, similar to how paleoclimatologists on Earth track ancient climate by studying the growth rings of trees or the surface of granite boulders embedded in glacial moraines.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The Hunt For Water on Mars\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Mars exploration is all about the search for liquid water, and the possibly life-friendly environments it could nurture. Scientists are thirsty to find Martian water, wherever and whenever it may have existed: flowing down crater walls in seasonal bursts; underground, away from the dry, frigid conditions on the planet’s surface; or deep in Mars’ distant past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That Mars long ago possessed copious amounts of liquid surface water is an almost indisputable fact, based on many observations and measurements by orbital spacecraft, landers and rovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1975867\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1975867\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-800x583.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"583\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-800x583.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-1020x743.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-768x559.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS-1536x1118.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/07/25695_PIA24485_K4_ZCAM_main_sol004_Delta_Remnant_unannotated-NASA-JPL-Caltech-ASU-MSSS.jpg 1648w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An image captured by NASA’s Perseverance rover of a tall mound of sediment on the floor of Jezero Crater on Mars. The sediment is believed to have been deposited by a river flowing into the crater when it was filled with water, long ago. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASUMSSS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/\">Curiosity rover\u003c/a> is currently crawling up the slope of a mountain in a 90-mile wide crater that once held a vast lake. The newer \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/\">Perseverance \u003c/a>robot is prospecting the dry lakebed of Jezero Crater, as well as a complex of sediments deposited by a river that once flowed into it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both rovers are probing mineral and geological clues left behind by water now long dried up, piecing together a window into Mars’ past environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But can the life-giving liquid be found anywhere on Mars today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only further exploration can answer this.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1975865/are-there-lakes-hiding-on-mars-echoes-from-the-deep-raise-this-tantalizing-question","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_40","science_4450"],"tags":["science_2356","science_4414","science_5179","science_201"],"featImg":"science_1975870","label":"source_science_1975865"},"science_1950956":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1950956","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1950956","score":null,"sort":[1574359392000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"nasa-hopes-to-find-direct-evidence-of-past-life-on-mars-with-2021-landing","title":"NASA Hopes to Find Direct Evidence of Past Life on Mars With 2021 Landing","publishDate":1574359392,"format":"standard","headTitle":"NASA Hopes to Find Direct Evidence of Past Life on Mars With 2021 Landing | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>For the first time in over 40 years, NASA plans to search for Martians — not living ones but the very long dead remains of life forms that may have thrived on a watery planet 3.5 billion years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]If the ancient shoreline of a now-dry lake bed harbors the fossilized remains of Martian life, then the long-anticipated moment when life beyond Earth is discovered may be only a few years away. Imagine that…[/pullquote]Call it a fossil hunt. \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7539\">NASA plans to send\u003c/a> its soon-to-launch Mars 2020 rover to a spot researchers hope will yield direct evidence of past life there. It may turn up in the form of mineral residues of once-living creatures, or possibly in physical formations, like stromatolites — \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7541&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nasajpl&utm_content=daily-20191115-1\">rocks formed by the activity of ancient microbes\u003c/a> that thrived in shallow, sun-drenched water. On Earth, stromatolites are among the oldest extant remnants of the earliest terrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950963\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs-800x618.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"618\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs-800x618.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs-768x593.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs.jpg 840w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Color map of the Isidis Basin and the location of Jezero Crater on Mars. Colors indicate altitude, where red is higher elevations and violet the lowest. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL/USGS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jezero Crater: Fossil-hunting Site?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars 2020’s target of interest is the 30-mile-wide \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8387/nasa-announces-landing-site-for-mars-2020-rover/\">Jezero Crater\u003c/a>, an impact feature at the edge of Isidis Basin. Through measurements and images the \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/\">Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter \u003c/a>took from orbit, Jezero has shown great promise in the search for signs of past life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950961\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-800x641.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-800x641.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-768x616.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-1020x818.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-1200x962.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL.jpg 1865w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Composite image of the section of Jezero Crater that NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will begin exploring in 2021. Center in this image is a fan of material washed in from a river inlet (left) and deposited on the floor of an ancient lake. Mineral measurements of the materials in this delta deposit show the presence of clay and carbonates, possible evidence of past Martian life. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>About 3.5 billion years ago, when a more Earth-like environment existed on Mars, Jezero Crater was probably flooded with water. A fanning complex of delta-like deposits sprouting from a likely river inlet promises to be a repository of sediments washed down from higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, maybe most tantalizing of all, researchers have discovered a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencealert.com/the-next-mars-rover-is-set-to-checkout-the-perfect-place-for-preserving-fossils\">layer of carbonate minerals\u003c/a> ringing what once upon a time would have been a shoreline of the ancient lake, like a chalk outline of a body of water that has dried up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, geologists find calcium carbonate in the fossils of ancient seashells, coral and stromatolite formations, as well as layers of sedimentary limestone that form over time from accumulations of these remains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of ancient lake waters filling Jezero Crater, showing the river inlet (top) and the fan of water-deposited sediments (underwater in this illustration) that have been captured in images by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So, imagine astrobiologists’ excitement at finding concentrations of carbonates tracing the shoreline of an ancient lake, where sunny, shallow waters may have once provided a life-nurturing environment. Accordingly, Mars 2020 plans to visit this vestige of shoreline during its exploration of Jezero Crater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mars 2020\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scheduled for launch in 2020 and a landing on Feb. 18, 2021, Mars 2020 is the first spacecraft NASA has designed to search for signs of Martian life since the twin Vikings landed 43 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Vikings tested scoops of Martian soil for the chemical signatures of biological respiration, signs of microscopic organisms alive on Mars today. The \u003ca href=\"https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/im-convinced-we-found-evidence-of-life-on-mars-in-the-1970s/\">results remain controversial \u003c/a>and inconclusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars 2020 is equipped with an instrument called \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/instruments/sherloc/\">SHERLOC\u003c/a> (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals), mounted at the end of its robotic arm. With a magnifying camera to examine fine-scale mineralogical features, and an ultraviolet laser and spectrometer for detecting and classifying minerals, SHERLOC will get up close and personal with the rocks in Jezero Crater to look for shapes and chemicals ancient life may have left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the layer of carbonates lining the ancient shoreline of Jezero Crater’s now-dry lake bed harbors chemical residues or mineral structures that are the fossilized remains of Martians, then the long anticipated moment when life beyond Earth is discovered may be only a few years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagine that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"NASA plans to search for the remains of life that may have existed on Mars 3.5 billion years ago.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704848149,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":16,"wordCount":714},"headData":{"title":"NASA Hopes to Find Direct Evidence of Past Life on Mars With 2021 Landing | KQED","description":"NASA plans to search for the remains of life that may have existed on Mars 3.5 billion years ago.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"NASA Hopes to Find Direct Evidence of Past Life on Mars With 2021 Landing","datePublished":"2019-11-21T18:03:12.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T00:55:49.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"source":"Mars Exploration","sticky":false,"path":"/science/1950956/nasa-hopes-to-find-direct-evidence-of-past-life-on-mars-with-2021-landing","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For the first time in over 40 years, NASA plans to search for Martians — not living ones but the very long dead remains of life forms that may have thrived on a watery planet 3.5 billion years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"If the ancient shoreline of a now-dry lake bed harbors the fossilized remains of Martian life, then the long-anticipated moment when life beyond Earth is discovered may be only a few years away. Imagine that…","name":"pullquote","attributes":{"named":{"label":""},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Call it a fossil hunt. \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7539\">NASA plans to send\u003c/a> its soon-to-launch Mars 2020 rover to a spot researchers hope will yield direct evidence of past life there. It may turn up in the form of mineral residues of once-living creatures, or possibly in physical formations, like stromatolites — \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7541&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nasajpl&utm_content=daily-20191115-1\">rocks formed by the activity of ancient microbes\u003c/a> that thrived in shallow, sun-drenched water. On Earth, stromatolites are among the oldest extant remnants of the earliest terrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950963\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs-800x618.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"618\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs-800x618.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs-768x593.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/Jezero_crater-Isidis_basin-nasajplusgs.jpg 840w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Color map of the Isidis Basin and the location of Jezero Crater on Mars. Colors indicate altitude, where red is higher elevations and violet the lowest. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL/USGS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jezero Crater: Fossil-hunting Site?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars 2020’s target of interest is the 30-mile-wide \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8387/nasa-announces-landing-site-for-mars-2020-rover/\">Jezero Crater\u003c/a>, an impact feature at the edge of Isidis Basin. Through measurements and images the \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/\">Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter \u003c/a>took from orbit, Jezero has shown great promise in the search for signs of past life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950961\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-800x641.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-800x641.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-768x616.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-1020x818.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL-1200x962.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/22475_PIA23239-NASAJPL-CaltechMSSSJHU-APL.jpg 1865w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Composite image of the section of Jezero Crater that NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will begin exploring in 2021. Center in this image is a fan of material washed in from a river inlet (left) and deposited on the floor of an ancient lake. Mineral measurements of the materials in this delta deposit show the presence of clay and carbonates, possible evidence of past Martian life. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>About 3.5 billion years ago, when a more Earth-like environment existed on Mars, Jezero Crater was probably flooded with water. A fanning complex of delta-like deposits sprouting from a likely river inlet promises to be a repository of sediments washed down from higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, maybe most tantalizing of all, researchers have discovered a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencealert.com/the-next-mars-rover-is-set-to-checkout-the-perfect-place-for-preserving-fossils\">layer of carbonate minerals\u003c/a> ringing what once upon a time would have been a shoreline of the ancient lake, like a chalk outline of a body of water that has dried up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, geologists find calcium carbonate in the fossils of ancient seashells, coral and stromatolite formations, as well as layers of sedimentary limestone that form over time from accumulations of these remains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/PIA22907-Mars-LakeJezero-ArtistConcept-20181213-NASA-JPL-Caltech-University-of-Arizona.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of ancient lake waters filling Jezero Crater, showing the river inlet (top) and the fan of water-deposited sediments (underwater in this illustration) that have been captured in images by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So, imagine astrobiologists’ excitement at finding concentrations of carbonates tracing the shoreline of an ancient lake, where sunny, shallow waters may have once provided a life-nurturing environment. Accordingly, Mars 2020 plans to visit this vestige of shoreline during its exploration of Jezero Crater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mars 2020\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scheduled for launch in 2020 and a landing on Feb. 18, 2021, Mars 2020 is the first spacecraft NASA has designed to search for signs of Martian life since the twin Vikings landed 43 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Vikings tested scoops of Martian soil for the chemical signatures of biological respiration, signs of microscopic organisms alive on Mars today. The \u003ca href=\"https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/im-convinced-we-found-evidence-of-life-on-mars-in-the-1970s/\">results remain controversial \u003c/a>and inconclusive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mars 2020 is equipped with an instrument called \u003ca href=\"https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/instruments/sherloc/\">SHERLOC\u003c/a> (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals), mounted at the end of its robotic arm. With a magnifying camera to examine fine-scale mineralogical features, and an ultraviolet laser and spectrometer for detecting and classifying minerals, SHERLOC will get up close and personal with the rocks in Jezero Crater to look for shapes and chemicals ancient life may have left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the layer of carbonates lining the ancient shoreline of Jezero Crater’s now-dry lake bed harbors chemical residues or mineral structures that are the fossilized remains of Martians, then the long anticipated moment when life beyond Earth is discovered may be only a few years away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagine that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1950956/nasa-hopes-to-find-direct-evidence-of-past-life-on-mars-with-2021-landing","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_40"],"tags":["science_2356","science_3370","science_5179","science_3616","science_5175","science_461"],"featImg":"science_1950960","label":"source_science_1950956"},"science_1946840":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1946840","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1946840","score":null,"sort":[1567429277000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"nasas-europa-clipper-is-a-go","title":"NASA's Europa Clipper Is a Go","publishDate":1567429277,"format":"standard","headTitle":"NASA’s Europa Clipper Is a Go | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>NASA has taken a big step closer to testing the waters of the ocean hiding under the icy crust of Europa, Jupiter’s most enigmatic moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/\">Europa Clipper mission\u003c/a>, in development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, has just been approved for its final design and construction phase. It’s on track for a 2025 launch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clipper” is the culmination of decades of dreaming and years of conceptual and preliminary design. It is only the second mission NASA has dedicated to exploring a moon in the solar system—our own moon was the first. The target, Jupiter’s icy \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/europa/in-depth/\">Europa\u003c/a>, is very different from Earth’s moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946853\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1946853\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-800x515.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a view from Europa's icy surface, looking out upon Jupiter.\" width=\"800\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-800x515.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-768x494.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-1020x657.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-1200x773.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a view from Europa’s icy surface, looking out upon Jupiter. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Believed to possess a heated rocky core and mantle surrounded by an ice-topped ocean of liquid water up to 100 miles deep, Europa is arguably the best place in our solar system to look for life beyond Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are We Interested in this Icy Jovian Moon?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/\">Astrobiologists\u003c/a>‘ mouths water at the prospect of an ocean of liquid water — particularly a salty one — in contact with a rocky ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They theorize that heat from within Europa’s rocky interior, generated by \u003ca href=\"https://tidal-heating.weebly.com/jupiters-moons.html\">tidal forces of Jupiter’s gravity,\u003c/a> powers eruptions of hot, mineral-laden water on Europa’s ocean floor. Such “hydrothermal vents” could supply all the ingredients necessary to sustain some form of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946849\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1946849\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll-800x796.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of Europa's ice-topped ocean, showing hydrothermal vents injecting heat and chemicals into the waters.\" width=\"800\" height=\"796\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll-800x796.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll-160x159.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll-768x764.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll.jpg 955w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of Europa’s ice-topped ocean, showing hydrothermal vents injecting heat and chemicals into the waters. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL/Michael Carroll)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html\">Hydrothermal vents\u003c/a> dot Earth’s own oceans in volcanically active areas. Since their discovery, researchers have found communities of life forms that thrive around hydrothermal vents, subsisting entirely on thermal and chemical energy emerging from Earth’s interior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How life arrived at these deep ocean oases is still open to scientific debate. One theory poses the idea that life on Earth could have gotten its start at hydrothermal vents and migrated later to the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Challenge of Exploring a Concealed Ocean Half a Billion Miles Away\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You might wonder, if there’s a saltwater ocean on Europa, and the strong possibility of a life-friendly environment, why don’t we already have robot submarines in the water sending us images of beautiful bioluminescent jellyfish, or something?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Easier said than done. Even landing a robot on Europa’s unexplored surface would be a great engineering challenge. Designing a mission capable of boring through miles of ice and descending through a hundred miles of water to reach the ocean floor, and still able to communicate with us back on Earth, is presently an adventure of science fiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/without-champion-europa-lander-falls-nasa-s-back-burner\">earlier mission concepts\u003c/a> flirted with dropping robots onto Europa’s surface, the Clipper mission won’t do that. It won’t even orbit Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That moon resides within \u003ca href=\"https://www.popsci.com/how-juno-spacecraft-will-survive-jupiters-devastating-radiation/\">bands of intense radiation\u003c/a> that surround Jupiter, an environment where even a radiation-hardened spacecraft might survive only a few weeks. Such a short visit wouldn’t allow much time to explore, let alone transmit the huge volumes of collected scientific data back to Earth before a fatal failure brought an end to the mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Clipper will follow a looping trajectory around Jupiter that will send it careening past Europa on 45 close flybys. Some will pass as close as 16 miles near the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946854\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 673px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1946854\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/EuropaClipper.jpg\" alt=\"Diagram showing NASA's strategy of close flybys of Europa on different trajectories, a plan designed to give Europa Clipper's observations global coverage. \" width=\"673\" height=\"622\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/EuropaClipper.jpg 673w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/EuropaClipper-160x148.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 673px) 100vw, 673px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram showing NASA’s strategy of close flybys of Europa on different trajectories, a plan designed to give Europa Clipper’s observations global coverage. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Between flybys the spacecraft will retreat to the far end of its elongated orbit, away from Jupiter and into safer climates beyond the deadly radiation zone. The longer mission time and extended orbits will ultimately let Clipper collect and send home up to three times as much data as a Europa-orbiting spacecraft could.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Europa Clipper Will See Under Europa’s Skin\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Europa Clipper will carry \u003ca href=\"https://europa.nasa.gov/about-clipper/instruments/\">nine scientific instruments\u003c/a> designed to offer a detailed look at the moon, particularly the vast ocean lurking beneath its icy crust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from the usual cameras and spectrometers that will take high-resolution pictures and analyze the composition of Europa’s surface, Clipper will carry instruments to investigate what lies below that surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An ice-penetrating radar will probe the frozen crust to determine its thickness and map its structure. Scientists will look for any subsurface lakes in chambers closer to the surface, which may be sources of water plumes detected by the Hubble Space Telescope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A magnetometer will measure the disturbance of Jupiter’s magnetic field by Europa’s salty ocean, divining its salinity and depth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two different instruments will analyze particles “sniffed” during very close flybys. The composition of particles and gases in Europa’s tenuous atmosphere and possibly plumes of water and chemicals erupting from its surface could help explain what Europa’s ocean is made of, if those plumes originate from the ocean’s waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Long Have We Known About Europa’s Ocean?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We caught our \u003ca href=\"https://europa.nasa.gov/about-europa/ocean/\">first scent of Europa’s ocean\u003c/a> in 1979 when the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft flew through the Jupiter system. The spacecraft captured images of Europa’s fractured surface. Its patterns of cracks and fissures were best explained by a thin icy crust floating on a body of liquid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 732px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1946847\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/jupitersmoon-nasajpl.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"732\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/jupitersmoon-nasajpl.jpg 732w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/jupitersmoon-nasajpl-160x118.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 732px) 100vw, 732px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of the cracked icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, captured by the Galileo spacecraft durin \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Starting in 1995 the \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/galileo/overview/\">Galileo spacecraft\u003c/a> made 11 close flybys of Europa, capturing images of much higher detail and measuring Europa’s effects on Jupiter’s magnetic field. The images further confirmed the presence of the hidden ocean, and Europa’s magnetic disturbances suggested that ocean is salty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past few years, observations by the Hubble Space Telescope have \u003ca href=\"https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo1717a/\">tentatively detected what may be plumes of water vapor\u003c/a> emanating from Europa’s southern polar region, further whetting scientists’ appetites to explore the exo-ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll have to wait a few more years before getting our next taste of Europa’s ocean waters, but at least we know that Europa Clipper is on the way.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"NASA's Europa Clipper has been approved for final design and is on track for a 2025 launch.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704848358,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":29,"wordCount":1077},"headData":{"title":"NASA's Europa Clipper Is a Go | KQED","description":"NASA's Europa Clipper has been approved for final design and is on track for a 2025 launch.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"NASA's Europa Clipper Is a Go","datePublished":"2019-09-02T13:01:17.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T00:59:18.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"source":"Astronomy","sticky":false,"path":"/science/1946840/nasas-europa-clipper-is-a-go","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>NASA has taken a big step closer to testing the waters of the ocean hiding under the icy crust of Europa, Jupiter’s most enigmatic moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/\">Europa Clipper mission\u003c/a>, in development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, has just been approved for its final design and construction phase. It’s on track for a 2025 launch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clipper” is the culmination of decades of dreaming and years of conceptual and preliminary design. It is only the second mission NASA has dedicated to exploring a moon in the solar system—our own moon was the first. The target, Jupiter’s icy \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/europa/in-depth/\">Europa\u003c/a>, is very different from Earth’s moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946853\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1946853\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-800x515.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a view from Europa's icy surface, looking out upon Jupiter.\" width=\"800\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-800x515.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-768x494.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-1020x657.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper-1200x773.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/image_2927e-Europa-Clipper.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a view from Europa’s icy surface, looking out upon Jupiter. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Believed to possess a heated rocky core and mantle surrounded by an ice-topped ocean of liquid water up to 100 miles deep, Europa is arguably the best place in our solar system to look for life beyond Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why Are We Interested in this Icy Jovian Moon?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/\">Astrobiologists\u003c/a>‘ mouths water at the prospect of an ocean of liquid water — particularly a salty one — in contact with a rocky ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They theorize that heat from within Europa’s rocky interior, generated by \u003ca href=\"https://tidal-heating.weebly.com/jupiters-moons.html\">tidal forces of Jupiter’s gravity,\u003c/a> powers eruptions of hot, mineral-laden water on Europa’s ocean floor. Such “hydrothermal vents” could supply all the ingredients necessary to sustain some form of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946849\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1946849\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll-800x796.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of Europa's ice-topped ocean, showing hydrothermal vents injecting heat and chemicals into the waters.\" width=\"800\" height=\"796\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll-800x796.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll-160x159.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll-768x764.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/36_PIA10131-nasajplMichael-Carroll.jpg 955w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of Europa’s ice-topped ocean, showing hydrothermal vents injecting heat and chemicals into the waters. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL/Michael Carroll)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html\">Hydrothermal vents\u003c/a> dot Earth’s own oceans in volcanically active areas. Since their discovery, researchers have found communities of life forms that thrive around hydrothermal vents, subsisting entirely on thermal and chemical energy emerging from Earth’s interior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How life arrived at these deep ocean oases is still open to scientific debate. One theory poses the idea that life on Earth could have gotten its start at hydrothermal vents and migrated later to the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Challenge of Exploring a Concealed Ocean Half a Billion Miles Away\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You might wonder, if there’s a saltwater ocean on Europa, and the strong possibility of a life-friendly environment, why don’t we already have robot submarines in the water sending us images of beautiful bioluminescent jellyfish, or something?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Easier said than done. Even landing a robot on Europa’s unexplored surface would be a great engineering challenge. Designing a mission capable of boring through miles of ice and descending through a hundred miles of water to reach the ocean floor, and still able to communicate with us back on Earth, is presently an adventure of science fiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/without-champion-europa-lander-falls-nasa-s-back-burner\">earlier mission concepts\u003c/a> flirted with dropping robots onto Europa’s surface, the Clipper mission won’t do that. It won’t even orbit Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That moon resides within \u003ca href=\"https://www.popsci.com/how-juno-spacecraft-will-survive-jupiters-devastating-radiation/\">bands of intense radiation\u003c/a> that surround Jupiter, an environment where even a radiation-hardened spacecraft might survive only a few weeks. Such a short visit wouldn’t allow much time to explore, let alone transmit the huge volumes of collected scientific data back to Earth before a fatal failure brought an end to the mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Clipper will follow a looping trajectory around Jupiter that will send it careening past Europa on 45 close flybys. Some will pass as close as 16 miles near the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946854\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 673px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1946854\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/EuropaClipper.jpg\" alt=\"Diagram showing NASA's strategy of close flybys of Europa on different trajectories, a plan designed to give Europa Clipper's observations global coverage. \" width=\"673\" height=\"622\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/EuropaClipper.jpg 673w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/EuropaClipper-160x148.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 673px) 100vw, 673px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram showing NASA’s strategy of close flybys of Europa on different trajectories, a plan designed to give Europa Clipper’s observations global coverage. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Between flybys the spacecraft will retreat to the far end of its elongated orbit, away from Jupiter and into safer climates beyond the deadly radiation zone. The longer mission time and extended orbits will ultimately let Clipper collect and send home up to three times as much data as a Europa-orbiting spacecraft could.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Europa Clipper Will See Under Europa’s Skin\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Europa Clipper will carry \u003ca href=\"https://europa.nasa.gov/about-clipper/instruments/\">nine scientific instruments\u003c/a> designed to offer a detailed look at the moon, particularly the vast ocean lurking beneath its icy crust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from the usual cameras and spectrometers that will take high-resolution pictures and analyze the composition of Europa’s surface, Clipper will carry instruments to investigate what lies below that surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An ice-penetrating radar will probe the frozen crust to determine its thickness and map its structure. Scientists will look for any subsurface lakes in chambers closer to the surface, which may be sources of water plumes detected by the Hubble Space Telescope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A magnetometer will measure the disturbance of Jupiter’s magnetic field by Europa’s salty ocean, divining its salinity and depth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two different instruments will analyze particles “sniffed” during very close flybys. The composition of particles and gases in Europa’s tenuous atmosphere and possibly plumes of water and chemicals erupting from its surface could help explain what Europa’s ocean is made of, if those plumes originate from the ocean’s waters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Long Have We Known About Europa’s Ocean?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We caught our \u003ca href=\"https://europa.nasa.gov/about-europa/ocean/\">first scent of Europa’s ocean\u003c/a> in 1979 when the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft flew through the Jupiter system. The spacecraft captured images of Europa’s fractured surface. Its patterns of cracks and fissures were best explained by a thin icy crust floating on a body of liquid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1946847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 732px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1946847\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/jupitersmoon-nasajpl.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"732\" height=\"541\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/jupitersmoon-nasajpl.jpg 732w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/08/jupitersmoon-nasajpl-160x118.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 732px) 100vw, 732px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of the cracked icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, captured by the Galileo spacecraft durin \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Starting in 1995 the \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/galileo/overview/\">Galileo spacecraft\u003c/a> made 11 close flybys of Europa, capturing images of much higher detail and measuring Europa’s effects on Jupiter’s magnetic field. The images further confirmed the presence of the hidden ocean, and Europa’s magnetic disturbances suggested that ocean is salty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past few years, observations by the Hubble Space Telescope have \u003ca href=\"https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo1717a/\">tentatively detected what may be plumes of water vapor\u003c/a> emanating from Europa’s southern polar region, further whetting scientists’ appetites to explore the exo-ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll have to wait a few more years before getting our next taste of Europa’s ocean waters, but at least we know that Europa Clipper is on the way.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1946840/nasas-europa-clipper-is-a-go","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_30","science_32","science_3947","science_98"],"tags":["science_2356","science_1064","science_3370","science_3832","science_5180","science_5175"],"featImg":"science_1946845","label":"source_science_1946840"},"science_1945508":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1945508","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1945508","score":null,"sort":[1564598230000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"eight-big-space-discoveries-since-the-apollo-landings","title":"Eight of the Most Important Space Discoveries Since the Apollo Landings","publishDate":1564598230,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Eight of the Most Important Space Discoveries Since the Apollo Landings | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>The 1969-72 Apollo moon landings took place in the era when humankind was just beginning to explore outer space with robotic probes and space-based observatories. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a time when we took the cosmos more at face value, with a \u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>what you see is what you get” attitude. Black holes, for instance, were mind-bending, hypothetical objects whose existence was yet to be verified. And we still wondered if our sun might be the only star in the universe with planets\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945623\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945623 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"The unique perspective of observing the cosmos and our planet's place in it from the vantage point of outer space has led to many scientific discoveries and philosophical revelations. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The unique perspective of observing the cosmos and our planet’s place in it from the vantage point of outer space has led to many scientific discoveries and philosophical revelations. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the decades since the Apollo missions, a long list of fresh discoveries has reshaped our understanding of the universe, from the cosmic to the subatomic. Here are eight of the most important of those since humans last landed on the moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Black Hole Confirmed\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1971 strong emissions of X-rays were detected from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/cygnusx1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">point\u003c/a> in the constellation Cygnus. Like smoke from an unseen gun, the X-rays were believed to emanate from the first-ever detected \u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes\">black hole\u003c/a>, though this wasn’t \u003ca href=\"https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2011/11/29/cygnus-x-1-a-black-hole-confirmed/\">confirmed \u003c/a>for over 30 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The notion of a massive object with gravity so strong that even light cannot escape goes back to at least 1784, when the Englishman John Michell first published the idea. Einstein’s theory of general relativity in the early 20th century predicted black holes, though the theoretical objects had such bizarre properties that \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/news/black-holes-albert-einstein-theory-relativity-space-time\">Einstein himself was not convinced\u003c/a> they could exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Life on the Ocean Floor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1977, a thriving ecosystem of living organisms was found on the floor of the deep ocean, surrounding a \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html\">hydrothermal vent\u003c/a> and subsisting entirely on heat and chemical energy emerging from Earth’s interior. An NSF-funded team of marine geologists made the discovery in the geothermal hot spot of the \u003ca href=\"https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=334070\">Galapagos Rift\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945625\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1945625\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/sully-main-endeavor-field.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/sully-main-endeavor-field.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/sully-main-endeavor-field-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A ‘black smoker.’ Hydrothermal vents on the deep ocean floor support thriving communities of life that are not dependent on energy from sunlight.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This find provided a first example of life that thrives without sunlight in the cold, dark environment of the ocean floor, encouraging scientists to imagine how extraterrestrial life might form and prosper under very alien conditions on other worlds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dinosaur Killer Identified \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1980, the Nobel-prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez implicated an asteroid hitting Earth as the culprit responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs. This extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous geological period was a mystery that had gone unsolved for more than a century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez’s team found an unusually high concentration of the element iridium in the worldwide geologic layer of sediment marking the end of the Cretaceous period. Iridium is rare in Earth rocks, but abundant in asteroids, suggesting that a global asteroid- impact catastrophe was the logical source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945626\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 536px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1945626\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/536px-Chicxulub_radar_topography.jpg\" alt=\"A map of the northern Yucatan Peninsula showing the barely visible remnants of the Chixulub impact crater, formed by an asteroid strike about 66 million years ago. \" width=\"536\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/536px-Chicxulub_radar_topography.jpg 536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/536px-Chicxulub_radar_topography-160x179.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map of the northern Yucatan Peninsula showing the barely visible remnants of the Chixulub impact crater, formed by an asteroid strike about 66 million years ago. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the 1990s, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kring/Chicxulub/regional-effects/\">100-mile wide impact crater\u003c/a> was identified at the northern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, with its center near the town of Chixulub. Mostly buried under jungle and sea floor sediment, the crater was chemically dated to around 66 million years old, coinciding with the dying off of the dinosaurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Chixulub crater is \u003ca href=\"https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2010/03/09/alvarez-theory-on-dinosaur/\">widely accepted\u003c/a> as the fatal wound that ended the 200 million year dynasty of Earth’s most famous extinct creatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>First Planets Outside Our Solar System Found\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first confirmed \u003ca href=\"https://futurism.com/the-first-exoplanet-was-discovered-25-years-ago-today\">discovery of a planet outside our solar system\u003c/a> occurred in 1992, when two extrasolar planets were detected orbiting a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/subject/8731/pulsars/\">pulsar\u003c/a>, which is the remnant core of a dead star, in the constellation Virgo. The first detection of an exoplanet orbiting a star that is still active and burning fuel took place three years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945627\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1945627\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/20130108_2M1207.jpg\" alt=\"Most exoplanets are too far away and too small to be captured directly in an image, and are detected indirectly. This image is one of the first, and few, direct images of an exoplanet (small red blotch), shown next to its star. \" width=\"500\" height=\"435\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/20130108_2M1207.jpg 500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/20130108_2M1207-160x139.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Most exoplanets are too far away and too small to be captured directly in an image, and are detected indirectly. This image is one of the first, and few, direct images of an exoplanet (the small, red blotch) shown next to its star. \u003ccite>(NaCo/VLT/ESO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before these events, the existence of planets orbiting other stars was only speculation. To date, a \u003ca href=\"https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/\">total of 4,096 planets\u003c/a> in almost 3,000 planetary systems outside our solar system have been confirmed, most of them in our general neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Expansion of the Universe is Speeding Up\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1998, the scientific community was stunned to discover that our universe is not only expanding, a fact known for decades, but expanding at an \u003cem>accelerating rate\u003c/em>. Conventional wisdom dictated that gravitational attraction by matter within the universe should be slowing the expansion, but careful observations of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.thephysicsmill.com/2015/06/29/type-1a-the-other-type-of-supernova/\">special type of supernova\u003c/a> that serves as a precision tool for measuring distances across the universe revealed the opposite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the idea of “\u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy\">dark energy\u003c/a>” was born, a strange form of energy thought to permeate the universe and exert a \u003cem>repulsive\u003c/em> force on all large-scale structures — galaxies and clusters of galaxies — driving them farther apart at an ever-faster rate\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Though its nature remains largely unknown, it is estimated that at least 68% of the \u003ca href=\"https://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_matter.html\">universe’s overall composition\u003c/a> is made up of dark energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Factoring in another invisible substance called “\u003ca href=\"https://home.cern/science/physics/dark-matter\">dark matter\u003c/a>,” it turns out that the objects in the universe that we can see — the type of stuff we and our planet and the stars are made of — make up only about 4% of the universe’s mass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>An Ocean on Jupiter’s Moon\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1995, NASA’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/galileo/\">Galileo mission\u003c/a> all but confirmed the existence of a massive ocean of liquid water, \u003ca href=\"https://europa.nasa.gov/about-europa/ocean/\">concealed beneath the icy crust\u003c/a> of Jupiter’s moon Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Images of Europa’s cracked surface suggested that it is a shell of ice floating on top of an ocean that may be up to 100 miles deep and contain twice the water in Earth’s ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1945628\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/the-puzzling-fascinating-surface-of-jupiters-icy-moon-europa-looms-large-in-this-newly-reprocessed.jpeg\" alt=\"The pattern of cracks in the icy crust of Jupiter's moon Europa was the first clue to the deep ocean it hides beneath.\" width=\"650\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/the-puzzling-fascinating-surface-of-jupiters-icy-moon-europa-looms-large-in-this-newly-reprocessed.jpeg 650w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/the-puzzling-fascinating-surface-of-jupiters-icy-moon-europa-looms-large-in-this-newly-reprocessed-160x118.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The existence of an ocean on a nearby world is reason for celebration by \u003ca href=\"https://www.seti.org/research/Astrobiology\">astrobiologists\u003c/a> interested in finding life beyond Earth, and has compelled \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/\">NASA\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://spacenews.com/scientists-want-nasa-and-esa-to-work-together-on-a-europa-lander-mission/\">ESA\u003c/a> to mount space missions to conduct further exploration of Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not long after Europa’s ocean was discovered, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft detected plumes of water vapor spewing from Saturn’s tiny moon \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/science/enceladus/\">Enceladus\u003c/a>, further upping the stakes in the search for extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Black Holes Collide\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, researchers at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-is-ligo\">Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory\u003c/a>, or LIGO, made the first-ever detection of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-are-gw\">gravity waves\u003c/a>. Gravity waves are disturbances, or ripples, in the fabric of \u003ca href=\"http://www.einstein-online.info/elementary/specialRT/spacetime.html\">space-time\u003c/a>, caused by the acceleration of massive objects in space. The detection of these waves allows us to perceive events in the universe that cannot be observed by conventional instruments like telescopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945630\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 454px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1945630\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Ligosketch.jpg\" alt=\"The LIGO gravity wave observatory uses a laser to measure the extremely minute changes in distance between them caused by fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime. \" width=\"454\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Ligosketch.jpg 454w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Ligosketch-160x92.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 454px) 100vw, 454px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The LIGO gravity wave observatory uses a laser to measure the extremely minute changes in distance between them caused by fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime. \u003ccite>(LIGO/Shane Larson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It was LIGO that detected the disturbance caused by two black holes colliding and merging, an event whose possibility was hypothesized but never observed. But because LIGO’s highly sensitive laser-and-mirror array enables it to measure distortions in space-time smaller than the nucleus of an atom, it was able to catch the collision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>First Image of a Black Hole \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, an international array of coordinated telescopes, collectively called the \u003ca href=\"https://eventhorizontelescope.org/\">Event Horizon Telescope\u003c/a>, or EHT, achieved what was conventionally thought to be impossible: It captured an image of the silhouette of one of the most elusive objects in the universe, a black hole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/S/Supermassive+Black+Hole\">supermassive black hole\u003c/a> caught on camera lies 53 million light years away, at the heart of the galaxy Messier 87, and contains the equivalent mass of 6.5 billion stars the size of our sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black holes have long been famed as the ultimate dark object in the universe, impossible to capture in pictures by virtue of their strong gravity, which prevents any light from escaping. While it is a fact that light cannot get out of a black hole from inside its \u003ca href=\"http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/E/Event+Horizon\">event horizon \u003c/a>— the distance at which the black hole’s gravity becomes strong enough to prevent light from escaping — it had long been thought that a black hole might be viewed in silhouette against the glow of hot gas surrounding it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But black holes are too small and distant for conventional telescopes to observe. The EHT array, however, is not a conventional telescope; it’s a collection of multiple millimeter-wavelength radio telescopes stationed at observatories from Antarctica to Greenland, Spain to Hawaii, and throughout the Americas. When their collective observations of a target object are synchronized, the EHT achieves imaging resolutions equal to an imaginary telescope that would measure half the size of Earth’s diameter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s Next?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going forward, what can we imagine will be discovered in the next 50 years?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Life forms swimming in Europa’s remote ocean? A fresh and unexpected picture of the universe seen through the lens of dark energy telescopes? The long-sought radio signals from distant, intelligent civilizations?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If recent history is a guide, we can imagine now what we may soon no longer need to.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"From black holes to an ocean on Jupiter's moon, a spate of discoveries over the past 50 years has reshaped our understanding of the universe.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704848451,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":41,"wordCount":1606},"headData":{"title":"Eight of the Most Important Space Discoveries Since the Apollo Landings | KQED","description":"From black holes to an ocean on Jupiter's moon, a spate of discoveries over the past 50 years has reshaped our understanding of the universe.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Eight of the Most Important Space Discoveries Since the Apollo Landings","datePublished":"2019-07-31T18:37:10.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T01:00:51.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"source":"Astronomy","sticky":false,"path":"/science/1945508/eight-big-space-discoveries-since-the-apollo-landings","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The 1969-72 Apollo moon landings took place in the era when humankind was just beginning to explore outer space with robotic probes and space-based observatories. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a time when we took the cosmos more at face value, with a \u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>what you see is what you get” attitude. Black holes, for instance, were mind-bending, hypothetical objects whose existence was yet to be verified. And we still wondered if our sun might be the only star in the universe with planets\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945623\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1945623 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"The unique perspective of observing the cosmos and our planet's place in it from the vantage point of outer space has led to many scientific discoveries and philosophical revelations. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Earthrise1_Apollo8AndersWeigang_2048.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The unique perspective of observing the cosmos and our planet’s place in it from the vantage point of outer space has led to many scientific discoveries and philosophical revelations. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the decades since the Apollo missions, a long list of fresh discoveries has reshaped our understanding of the universe, from the cosmic to the subatomic. Here are eight of the most important of those since humans last landed on the moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Black Hole Confirmed\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1971 strong emissions of X-rays were detected from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/cygnusx1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">point\u003c/a> in the constellation Cygnus. Like smoke from an unseen gun, the X-rays were believed to emanate from the first-ever detected \u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes\">black hole\u003c/a>, though this wasn’t \u003ca href=\"https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2011/11/29/cygnus-x-1-a-black-hole-confirmed/\">confirmed \u003c/a>for over 30 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The notion of a massive object with gravity so strong that even light cannot escape goes back to at least 1784, when the Englishman John Michell first published the idea. Einstein’s theory of general relativity in the early 20th century predicted black holes, though the theoretical objects had such bizarre properties that \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/news/black-holes-albert-einstein-theory-relativity-space-time\">Einstein himself was not convinced\u003c/a> they could exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Life on the Ocean Floor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1977, a thriving ecosystem of living organisms was found on the floor of the deep ocean, surrounding a \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html\">hydrothermal vent\u003c/a> and subsisting entirely on heat and chemical energy emerging from Earth’s interior. An NSF-funded team of marine geologists made the discovery in the geothermal hot spot of the \u003ca href=\"https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=334070\">Galapagos Rift\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945625\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1945625\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/sully-main-endeavor-field.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/sully-main-endeavor-field.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/sully-main-endeavor-field-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A ‘black smoker.’ Hydrothermal vents on the deep ocean floor support thriving communities of life that are not dependent on energy from sunlight.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This find provided a first example of life that thrives without sunlight in the cold, dark environment of the ocean floor, encouraging scientists to imagine how extraterrestrial life might form and prosper under very alien conditions on other worlds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dinosaur Killer Identified \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1980, the Nobel-prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez implicated an asteroid hitting Earth as the culprit responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs. This extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous geological period was a mystery that had gone unsolved for more than a century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez’s team found an unusually high concentration of the element iridium in the worldwide geologic layer of sediment marking the end of the Cretaceous period. Iridium is rare in Earth rocks, but abundant in asteroids, suggesting that a global asteroid- impact catastrophe was the logical source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945626\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 536px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1945626\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/536px-Chicxulub_radar_topography.jpg\" alt=\"A map of the northern Yucatan Peninsula showing the barely visible remnants of the Chixulub impact crater, formed by an asteroid strike about 66 million years ago. \" width=\"536\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/536px-Chicxulub_radar_topography.jpg 536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/536px-Chicxulub_radar_topography-160x179.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map of the northern Yucatan Peninsula showing the barely visible remnants of the Chixulub impact crater, formed by an asteroid strike about 66 million years ago. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the 1990s, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kring/Chicxulub/regional-effects/\">100-mile wide impact crater\u003c/a> was identified at the northern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, with its center near the town of Chixulub. Mostly buried under jungle and sea floor sediment, the crater was chemically dated to around 66 million years old, coinciding with the dying off of the dinosaurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Chixulub crater is \u003ca href=\"https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2010/03/09/alvarez-theory-on-dinosaur/\">widely accepted\u003c/a> as the fatal wound that ended the 200 million year dynasty of Earth’s most famous extinct creatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>First Planets Outside Our Solar System Found\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first confirmed \u003ca href=\"https://futurism.com/the-first-exoplanet-was-discovered-25-years-ago-today\">discovery of a planet outside our solar system\u003c/a> occurred in 1992, when two extrasolar planets were detected orbiting a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/subject/8731/pulsars/\">pulsar\u003c/a>, which is the remnant core of a dead star, in the constellation Virgo. The first detection of an exoplanet orbiting a star that is still active and burning fuel took place three years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945627\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1945627\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/20130108_2M1207.jpg\" alt=\"Most exoplanets are too far away and too small to be captured directly in an image, and are detected indirectly. This image is one of the first, and few, direct images of an exoplanet (small red blotch), shown next to its star. \" width=\"500\" height=\"435\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/20130108_2M1207.jpg 500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/20130108_2M1207-160x139.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Most exoplanets are too far away and too small to be captured directly in an image, and are detected indirectly. This image is one of the first, and few, direct images of an exoplanet (the small, red blotch) shown next to its star. \u003ccite>(NaCo/VLT/ESO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before these events, the existence of planets orbiting other stars was only speculation. To date, a \u003ca href=\"https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/\">total of 4,096 planets\u003c/a> in almost 3,000 planetary systems outside our solar system have been confirmed, most of them in our general neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Expansion of the Universe is Speeding Up\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1998, the scientific community was stunned to discover that our universe is not only expanding, a fact known for decades, but expanding at an \u003cem>accelerating rate\u003c/em>. Conventional wisdom dictated that gravitational attraction by matter within the universe should be slowing the expansion, but careful observations of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.thephysicsmill.com/2015/06/29/type-1a-the-other-type-of-supernova/\">special type of supernova\u003c/a> that serves as a precision tool for measuring distances across the universe revealed the opposite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the idea of “\u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy\">dark energy\u003c/a>” was born, a strange form of energy thought to permeate the universe and exert a \u003cem>repulsive\u003c/em> force on all large-scale structures — galaxies and clusters of galaxies — driving them farther apart at an ever-faster rate\u003cstrong>.\u003c/strong> Though its nature remains largely unknown, it is estimated that at least 68% of the \u003ca href=\"https://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_matter.html\">universe’s overall composition\u003c/a> is made up of dark energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Factoring in another invisible substance called “\u003ca href=\"https://home.cern/science/physics/dark-matter\">dark matter\u003c/a>,” it turns out that the objects in the universe that we can see — the type of stuff we and our planet and the stars are made of — make up only about 4% of the universe’s mass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>An Ocean on Jupiter’s Moon\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1995, NASA’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/galileo/\">Galileo mission\u003c/a> all but confirmed the existence of a massive ocean of liquid water, \u003ca href=\"https://europa.nasa.gov/about-europa/ocean/\">concealed beneath the icy crust\u003c/a> of Jupiter’s moon Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Images of Europa’s cracked surface suggested that it is a shell of ice floating on top of an ocean that may be up to 100 miles deep and contain twice the water in Earth’s ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1945628\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/the-puzzling-fascinating-surface-of-jupiters-icy-moon-europa-looms-large-in-this-newly-reprocessed.jpeg\" alt=\"The pattern of cracks in the icy crust of Jupiter's moon Europa was the first clue to the deep ocean it hides beneath.\" width=\"650\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/the-puzzling-fascinating-surface-of-jupiters-icy-moon-europa-looms-large-in-this-newly-reprocessed.jpeg 650w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/the-puzzling-fascinating-surface-of-jupiters-icy-moon-europa-looms-large-in-this-newly-reprocessed-160x118.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The existence of an ocean on a nearby world is reason for celebration by \u003ca href=\"https://www.seti.org/research/Astrobiology\">astrobiologists\u003c/a> interested in finding life beyond Earth, and has compelled \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/\">NASA\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://spacenews.com/scientists-want-nasa-and-esa-to-work-together-on-a-europa-lander-mission/\">ESA\u003c/a> to mount space missions to conduct further exploration of Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not long after Europa’s ocean was discovered, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft detected plumes of water vapor spewing from Saturn’s tiny moon \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/science/enceladus/\">Enceladus\u003c/a>, further upping the stakes in the search for extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Black Holes Collide\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, researchers at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-is-ligo\">Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory\u003c/a>, or LIGO, made the first-ever detection of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-are-gw\">gravity waves\u003c/a>. Gravity waves are disturbances, or ripples, in the fabric of \u003ca href=\"http://www.einstein-online.info/elementary/specialRT/spacetime.html\">space-time\u003c/a>, caused by the acceleration of massive objects in space. The detection of these waves allows us to perceive events in the universe that cannot be observed by conventional instruments like telescopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1945630\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 454px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1945630\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Ligosketch.jpg\" alt=\"The LIGO gravity wave observatory uses a laser to measure the extremely minute changes in distance between them caused by fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime. \" width=\"454\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Ligosketch.jpg 454w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/07/Ligosketch-160x92.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 454px) 100vw, 454px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The LIGO gravity wave observatory uses a laser to measure the extremely minute changes in distance between them caused by fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime. \u003ccite>(LIGO/Shane Larson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It was LIGO that detected the disturbance caused by two black holes colliding and merging, an event whose possibility was hypothesized but never observed. But because LIGO’s highly sensitive laser-and-mirror array enables it to measure distortions in space-time smaller than the nucleus of an atom, it was able to catch the collision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>First Image of a Black Hole \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2019, an international array of coordinated telescopes, collectively called the \u003ca href=\"https://eventhorizontelescope.org/\">Event Horizon Telescope\u003c/a>, or EHT, achieved what was conventionally thought to be impossible: It captured an image of the silhouette of one of the most elusive objects in the universe, a black hole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/S/Supermassive+Black+Hole\">supermassive black hole\u003c/a> caught on camera lies 53 million light years away, at the heart of the galaxy Messier 87, and contains the equivalent mass of 6.5 billion stars the size of our sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black holes have long been famed as the ultimate dark object in the universe, impossible to capture in pictures by virtue of their strong gravity, which prevents any light from escaping. While it is a fact that light cannot get out of a black hole from inside its \u003ca href=\"http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/E/Event+Horizon\">event horizon \u003c/a>— the distance at which the black hole’s gravity becomes strong enough to prevent light from escaping — it had long been thought that a black hole might be viewed in silhouette against the glow of hot gas surrounding it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But black holes are too small and distant for conventional telescopes to observe. The EHT array, however, is not a conventional telescope; it’s a collection of multiple millimeter-wavelength radio telescopes stationed at observatories from Antarctica to Greenland, Spain to Hawaii, and throughout the Americas. When their collective observations of a target object are synchronized, the EHT achieves imaging resolutions equal to an imaginary telescope that would measure half the size of Earth’s diameter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s Next?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going forward, what can we imagine will be discovered in the next 50 years?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Life forms swimming in Europa’s remote ocean? A fresh and unexpected picture of the universe seen through the lens of dark energy telescopes? The long-sought radio signals from distant, intelligent civilizations?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If recent history is a guide, we can imagine now what we may soon no longer need to.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1945508/eight-big-space-discoveries-since-the-apollo-landings","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_40","science_3947"],"tags":["science_144","science_2356","science_3142","science_2145","science_3370","science_5179","science_5175","science_309","science_201"],"featImg":"science_1945622","label":"source_science_1945508"},"science_1404977":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1404977","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1404977","score":null,"sort":[1487345443000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"nasa-considers-a-robotic-lander-to-search-for-signs-of-life-on-jupiters-moon","title":"NASA Considers a Robotic Lander to Search for Signs of Life on Jupiter’s Moon","publishDate":1487345443,"format":"standard","headTitle":"NASA Considers a Robotic Lander to Search for Signs of Life on Jupiter’s Moon | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>We may be one small step closer to “first contact” with extraterrestrial life. On February 7, scientists delivered a report ordered by NASA\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2017/02/08/nasa-receives-science-report-on-europa-lander-concept\"> detailing the feasibility and potential scientific value\u003c/a> of sending a robotic lander to Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moon, Europa, to search for signs of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This would be only the third solar system moon on which we have landed, following earlier missions to Earth’s own moon and to Saturn’s liquid-hydrocarbon bearing satellite, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/ten-years-ago-huygens-probe-lands-on-surface-of-titan\">Titan\u003c/a>. Unlike those two, however, Europa may harbor an environment friendly to life as we know it on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved by NASA, it would be the first life-detection mission since the \u003ca href=\"https://phys.org/news/2016-10-year-old-viking-life-mars.html\">Viking landers looked for evidence of microbial life\u003c/a> in Mars’ soils back in the late 1970s. Other mission goals include analyzing the composition of surface materials to assess the habitability of Europa and to probe the structure of the frozen crust, information that would inform future missions exploring the moon’s ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since photos taken by Voyager 2 in 1979 suggested the presence of a deep ocean of liquid water beneath Europa’s cracked icy surface, Jupiter’s moon has become the most tantalizing body in the solar system in the search for extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1404981\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 790px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1404981\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1.jpg\" alt=\"One of the first detailed pictures of Europa and its cracked, icy surface, taken by Voyager 2 in 1979.\" width=\"790\" height=\"790\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1.jpg 790w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the first detailed pictures of Europa and its cracked, icy surface, taken by Voyager 2 in 1979. \u003ccite>(Voyager/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Europa’s ocean has made its presence known not only by cracks in the icy crust. In 2014, the Hubble Space Telescope first detected water vapor plumes erupting from below Europa’s surface that are believed to be supplied by that ocean. Also, in the early 2000’s the Galileo spacecraft measured disturbances in Jupiter’s magnetic field caused by Europa, and the nature of those disturbances suggest that its ocean waters are likely salty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our current interpretation of the evidence tells us that Europa’s ice crust may be only a few miles thick, and floating on top a salty global ocean as deep as 30 miles and containing twice the amount of water in all of Earth’s oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1404985\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1404985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a cutaway of Europa's interior, detailing the suspected saltwater ocean and thermally active ocean floor. \" width=\"700\" height=\"665\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll.jpg 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-160x152.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-240x228.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-375x356.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-520x494.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a cutaway of Europa’s interior, detailing the suspected saltwater ocean and thermally active ocean floor. \u003ccite>(Michael Carroll)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even more enticing for astrobiologists looking for extraterrestrial life, Europa’s ocean probably sits on top of a rocky sea floor. If so, then heat from the moon’s interior may emerge through hydrothermal vents, supplying energy and chemicals to create an environment suitable to support some form of life. Similar geothermal vents on Earth’s ocean floor support thriving communities of marine life that depend solely on energy and chemicals from Earth’s interior, without any need for sunlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1409962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 806px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1409962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX.jpg\" alt=\"Artist illustration of plumes of water vapor supplied by Europa's ocean erupting from cracks in its icy crust. \" width=\"806\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX.jpg 806w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-160x88.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-800x442.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-768x424.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-672x372.jpg 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-240x133.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-375x207.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-520x287.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist illustration of plumes of water vapor supplied by Europa’s ocean erupting from cracks in its icy crust. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though we have found sub-surface bodies of liquid water in several solar system objects, only those of Europa and Saturn’s moon \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/30419-alien-life-search-enceladus-mission.html\">Enceladus\u003c/a> are believed to be in direct contact with a rocky ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While scientists consider the new study, a separate NASA mission, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">Europa Mission\u003c/a>, is already in development and expected to launch sometime in the early 2020’s. The Europa Mission spacecraft will make multiple close passes of Jupiter’s moon, analyzing the structure and composition of its icy crust, the interaction between Europa and Jupiter’s magnetic field, and possibly “sniffing” the chemical makeup of the water vapor plumes erupting from Europa’s southern region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his novel\u003cem>, “2010: Odyssey Two,”\u003c/em> Arthur C. Clarke landed a fictitious \u003ca href=\"https://universe-review.ca/I07-18-2010.jpg\">Chinese spacecraft\u003c/a> and its human crew on Europa, though with a different mission goal in mind. The novel’s Chinese explorers made moon-fall simply to fill their ship’s propellant tanks with water in order to continue their journey. In that case, humans didn’t find life on Europa; it found them. Their adventure ended when huge tentacle-like vines emerged from a crack in the ice to pull the doomed ship into the dark, watery depths below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to peg any dates for a landing on Europa. NASA is at the earliest conceptual stages for such a mission. As a next step toward deciding how, or if, to proceed, NASA will ask for input from scientists in meetings planned for early this spring. How to land a spacecraft on a moon with no atmosphere and mostly unexplored terrain, and what kinds of scientific instruments it should carry, are some of the questions that will be explored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Europa is such a promising place to look for extraterrestrial life, landing a spacecraft there is a next logical step in a series of missions to scrutinize the ice-crusted moon and the mysterious, potentially life-bearing ocean it possesses.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"On February 7, NASA received a report detailing the potential scientific value of sending a robotic lander to set down on the icy surface of Jupiter's tantalizing, ocean-bearing moon, Europa, with a mission to search for life….","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704929074,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":14,"wordCount":847},"headData":{"title":"NASA Considers a Robotic Lander to Search for Signs of Life on Jupiter’s Moon | KQED","description":"On February 7, NASA received a report detailing the potential scientific value of sending a robotic lander to set down on the icy surface of Jupiter's tantalizing, ocean-bearing moon, Europa, with a mission to search for life….","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"NASA Considers a Robotic Lander to Search for Signs of Life on Jupiter’s Moon","datePublished":"2017-02-17T15:30:43.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T23:24:34.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/1404977/nasa-considers-a-robotic-lander-to-search-for-signs-of-life-on-jupiters-moon","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>We may be one small step closer to “first contact” with extraterrestrial life. On February 7, scientists delivered a report ordered by NASA\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2017/02/08/nasa-receives-science-report-on-europa-lander-concept\"> detailing the feasibility and potential scientific value\u003c/a> of sending a robotic lander to Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moon, Europa, to search for signs of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This would be only the third solar system moon on which we have landed, following earlier missions to Earth’s own moon and to Saturn’s liquid-hydrocarbon bearing satellite, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/ten-years-ago-huygens-probe-lands-on-surface-of-titan\">Titan\u003c/a>. Unlike those two, however, Europa may harbor an environment friendly to life as we know it on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved by NASA, it would be the first life-detection mission since the \u003ca href=\"https://phys.org/news/2016-10-year-old-viking-life-mars.html\">Viking landers looked for evidence of microbial life\u003c/a> in Mars’ soils back in the late 1970s. Other mission goals include analyzing the composition of surface materials to assess the habitability of Europa and to probe the structure of the frozen crust, information that would inform future missions exploring the moon’s ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since photos taken by Voyager 2 in 1979 suggested the presence of a deep ocean of liquid water beneath Europa’s cracked icy surface, Jupiter’s moon has become the most tantalizing body in the solar system in the search for extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1404981\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 790px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1404981\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1.jpg\" alt=\"One of the first detailed pictures of Europa and its cracked, icy surface, taken by Voyager 2 in 1979.\" width=\"790\" height=\"790\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1.jpg 790w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the first detailed pictures of Europa and its cracked, icy surface, taken by Voyager 2 in 1979. \u003ccite>(Voyager/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Europa’s ocean has made its presence known not only by cracks in the icy crust. In 2014, the Hubble Space Telescope first detected water vapor plumes erupting from below Europa’s surface that are believed to be supplied by that ocean. Also, in the early 2000’s the Galileo spacecraft measured disturbances in Jupiter’s magnetic field caused by Europa, and the nature of those disturbances suggest that its ocean waters are likely salty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our current interpretation of the evidence tells us that Europa’s ice crust may be only a few miles thick, and floating on top a salty global ocean as deep as 30 miles and containing twice the amount of water in all of Earth’s oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1404985\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1404985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a cutaway of Europa's interior, detailing the suspected saltwater ocean and thermally active ocean floor. \" width=\"700\" height=\"665\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll.jpg 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-160x152.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-240x228.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-375x356.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-520x494.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a cutaway of Europa’s interior, detailing the suspected saltwater ocean and thermally active ocean floor. \u003ccite>(Michael Carroll)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even more enticing for astrobiologists looking for extraterrestrial life, Europa’s ocean probably sits on top of a rocky sea floor. If so, then heat from the moon’s interior may emerge through hydrothermal vents, supplying energy and chemicals to create an environment suitable to support some form of life. Similar geothermal vents on Earth’s ocean floor support thriving communities of marine life that depend solely on energy and chemicals from Earth’s interior, without any need for sunlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1409962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 806px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1409962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX.jpg\" alt=\"Artist illustration of plumes of water vapor supplied by Europa's ocean erupting from cracks in its icy crust. \" width=\"806\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX.jpg 806w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-160x88.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-800x442.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-768x424.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-672x372.jpg 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-240x133.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-375x207.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-520x287.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist illustration of plumes of water vapor supplied by Europa’s ocean erupting from cracks in its icy crust. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though we have found sub-surface bodies of liquid water in several solar system objects, only those of Europa and Saturn’s moon \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/30419-alien-life-search-enceladus-mission.html\">Enceladus\u003c/a> are believed to be in direct contact with a rocky ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While scientists consider the new study, a separate NASA mission, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">Europa Mission\u003c/a>, is already in development and expected to launch sometime in the early 2020’s. The Europa Mission spacecraft will make multiple close passes of Jupiter’s moon, analyzing the structure and composition of its icy crust, the interaction between Europa and Jupiter’s magnetic field, and possibly “sniffing” the chemical makeup of the water vapor plumes erupting from Europa’s southern region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his novel\u003cem>, “2010: Odyssey Two,”\u003c/em> Arthur C. Clarke landed a fictitious \u003ca href=\"https://universe-review.ca/I07-18-2010.jpg\">Chinese spacecraft\u003c/a> and its human crew on Europa, though with a different mission goal in mind. The novel’s Chinese explorers made moon-fall simply to fill their ship’s propellant tanks with water in order to continue their journey. In that case, humans didn’t find life on Europa; it found them. Their adventure ended when huge tentacle-like vines emerged from a crack in the ice to pull the doomed ship into the dark, watery depths below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to peg any dates for a landing on Europa. NASA is at the earliest conceptual stages for such a mission. As a next step toward deciding how, or if, to proceed, NASA will ask for input from scientists in meetings planned for early this spring. How to land a spacecraft on a moon with no atmosphere and mostly unexplored terrain, and what kinds of scientific instruments it should carry, are some of the questions that will be explored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Europa is such a promising place to look for extraterrestrial life, landing a spacecraft there is a next logical step in a series of missions to scrutinize the ice-crusted moon and the mysterious, potentially life-bearing ocean it possesses.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1404977/nasa-considers-a-robotic-lander-to-search-for-signs-of-life-on-jupiters-moon","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28"],"tags":["science_2356","science_503","science_1064","science_5180","science_351","science_5175","science_388"],"featImg":"science_1404983","label":"science"},"science_1147097":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1147097","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1147097","score":null,"sort":[1478828248000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"vapor-plumes-on-jupiters-moon-europa-show-new-evidence-of-water","title":"Vapor Plumes on Jupiter's Moon, Europa, Show New Evidence of Water","publishDate":1478828248,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Vapor Plumes on Jupiter’s Moon, Europa, Show New Evidence of Water | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>The possibility of an ocean under the frozen surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, has tantalized scientists for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2016/09/26/hubble-possible-water-plumes-on-jupiters-moon-europa\">are reporting\u003c/a> further evidence of that ocean’s existence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On at least three out of ten separate occasions in 2014, scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore report they spotted plumes of water vapor spouting from the southern polar region of the moon’s icy surface. The first ever observation of these suspected plumes was in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1150687\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1150687\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited.jpg\" alt=\"Ultraviolet Hubble images of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, captured on three separate days, showing possible water plumes erupting from its surface outside the bottom edge of the moon’s disk. \" width=\"1000\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-800x266.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-768x256.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-960x320.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-240x80.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-375x125.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-520x173.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"> Hubble telescope images of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, captured on three separate days, showing possible water plumes erupting from its surface (outside the bottom edge of the moon’s disk.) \u003ccite>(NASA/ESA/W. Sparks (STScI))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is exciting news. If the water plumes are real, and supplied by the ocean believed to be hidden under Europa’s icy crust, they may offer a way to probe and analyze the ocean’s composition directly. That could also pave the way for detecting any evidence of life deep below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The likely existence of water on Europa makes it one of NASA’s hotspots in the quest to discover extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Direct exploration of a distant and deep ocean buried beneath layers of ice is currently beyond our capabilities, but missions to send probes through the plumes erupting from Jupiter’s moon are already in the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">NASA’s Europa mission\u003c/a> is set to launch in the 2020’s and the European “\u003ca href=\"http://sci.esa.int/juice/\">Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer” (JUICE)\u003c/a> is scheduled for launch in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1147103\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2101px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1147103\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of the European Space Agency's "JUICE" mission to explore Jupiter's icy moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. \" width=\"2101\" height=\"1620\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1.jpg 2101w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-800x617.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-768x592.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-1020x786.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-1920x1480.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-1180x910.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-960x740.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-240x185.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-375x289.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-520x401.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2101px) 100vw, 2101px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of the European Space Agency’s “JUICE” mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. \u003ccite>(ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/cassini-plunged-into-icy-plumes-of-enceladus/\">NASA’s Cassini spacecraft\u003c/a> has already flown through and analyzed similar plumes of water vapor spewing from Saturn’s moon, Enceladus. That’s another hotspot location in NASA’s quest to discover whether life exists elsewhere in our solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Evidence of Wate\u003c/strong>r\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists first speculated about the existence of an ocean on Europa when they observed the icy composition of its surface in the late 1970’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, pictures taken by the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft of Europa’s so-called “\u003ca href=\"http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2011/3266.html\">chaos terrain\u003c/a>” showed a peculiar jumbling of cracks and streaks in the ice. These were interpreted as being formed by an icy crust floating atop a deep liquid water ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1147104\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1147104\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain.jpg\" alt=\"Image of "chaos terrain" in Europa's icy crust--visual evidence of the strong possibility that a deep watery ocean exist beneath. \" width=\"1000\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-160x71.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-800x354.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-768x339.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-960x424.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-240x106.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-375x166.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-520x230.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of “chaos terrain” in Europa’s icy crust–visual evidence of the strong possibility that a deep watery ocean exist beneath. \u003ccite>(Galileo/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>An even stronger piece of evidence for a hidden ocean comes from NASA’s Galileo mission, which detected a disturbance in Jupiter’s magnetic field coming from Europa. The disturbance could be explained by the interaction of Jupiter’s magnetic field with an electrically conductive fluid inside Europa–such as a saltwater ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Possibility of Life\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With what’s believed to be a salty ocean thirty or more miles deep and containing two or three times the water of Earth’s oceans, Europa may have the conditions needed to sustain life forms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1147101\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1147101\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full.png\" alt=\"Artist concept showing a cross section of Europa's icy crust floating atop the suspected water, with crevasses spewing the ocean waters through the surface. \" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-768x576.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-240x180.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-375x281.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-520x390.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept showing a cross section of Europa’s icy crust floating atop the suspected water, with crevasses spewing the ocean waters through the surface. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Indeed, it’s not a huge stretch to imagine an environment similar to certain places on Earth where life forms thrive under extremely harsh conditions. We call those organisms “\u003ca href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/extremophile.html\">extremophiles\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether in the coldest bottoms of Antarctic or alpine lakes, or in the scalding hot and toxic waters of geothermal pools, or in pitch blackness on the ocean floor surrounding hydro-thermal vents, Earth’s “extremophiles” have proven they can flourish under extreme conditions that could mirror those on Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remember Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010: Odyssey 2, involving a mission to Jupiter and a side-trip to Europa?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie\u003cem> \u003c/em>version gave us a brief glimpse of something green emerging from Europa’s ice — the enormous tendril-like vines described in the book that pulled a doomed Chinese spacecraft into the cold dark depths below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clark’s science fiction account of Europa made some of us thirsty to explore the moon’s mysterious ocean depths. Yet today, almost thirty-five years later, direct exploration of those waters–say with some form of ice-boring submarine robot–isn’t on the horizon. But scientists \u003cem>are\u003c/em> zeroing in on a better understanding of what lies beneath Europa’s frozen surface. As NASA’s life-searching mantra goes, “Follow the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Scientists have dipped another toe into the mysterious dark waters of Jupiter's moon Europa. Observations made using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have turned up strong evidence of the existence of plumes of water vapor spouting from the southern polar region of the moon's icy surface.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704929427,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":21,"wordCount":831},"headData":{"title":"Vapor Plumes on Jupiter's Moon, Europa, Show New Evidence of Water | KQED","description":"Scientists have dipped another toe into the mysterious dark waters of Jupiter's moon Europa. Observations made using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have turned up strong evidence of the existence of plumes of water vapor spouting from the southern polar region of the moon's icy surface.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Vapor Plumes on Jupiter's Moon, Europa, Show New Evidence of Water","datePublished":"2016-11-11T01:37:28.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T23:30:27.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/1147097/vapor-plumes-on-jupiters-moon-europa-show-new-evidence-of-water","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The possibility of an ocean under the frozen surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, has tantalized scientists for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2016/09/26/hubble-possible-water-plumes-on-jupiters-moon-europa\">are reporting\u003c/a> further evidence of that ocean’s existence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On at least three out of ten separate occasions in 2014, scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore report they spotted plumes of water vapor spouting from the southern polar region of the moon’s icy surface. The first ever observation of these suspected plumes was in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1150687\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1150687\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited.jpg\" alt=\"Ultraviolet Hubble images of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, captured on three separate days, showing possible water plumes erupting from its surface outside the bottom edge of the moon’s disk. \" width=\"1000\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-800x266.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-768x256.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-960x320.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-240x80.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-375x125.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa_edited-520x173.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"> Hubble telescope images of Jupiter’s moon, Europa, captured on three separate days, showing possible water plumes erupting from its surface (outside the bottom edge of the moon’s disk.) \u003ccite>(NASA/ESA/W. Sparks (STScI))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is exciting news. If the water plumes are real, and supplied by the ocean believed to be hidden under Europa’s icy crust, they may offer a way to probe and analyze the ocean’s composition directly. That could also pave the way for detecting any evidence of life deep below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The likely existence of water on Europa makes it one of NASA’s hotspots in the quest to discover extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Direct exploration of a distant and deep ocean buried beneath layers of ice is currently beyond our capabilities, but missions to send probes through the plumes erupting from Jupiter’s moon are already in the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">NASA’s Europa mission\u003c/a> is set to launch in the 2020’s and the European “\u003ca href=\"http://sci.esa.int/juice/\">Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer” (JUICE)\u003c/a> is scheduled for launch in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1147103\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2101px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1147103\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of the European Space Agency's "JUICE" mission to explore Jupiter's icy moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. \" width=\"2101\" height=\"1620\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1.jpg 2101w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-800x617.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-768x592.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-1020x786.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-1920x1480.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-1180x910.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-960x740.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-240x185.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-375x289.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/JUICE_Image1-520x401.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2101px) 100vw, 2101px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of the European Space Agency’s “JUICE” mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. \u003ccite>(ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/cassini-plunged-into-icy-plumes-of-enceladus/\">NASA’s Cassini spacecraft\u003c/a> has already flown through and analyzed similar plumes of water vapor spewing from Saturn’s moon, Enceladus. That’s another hotspot location in NASA’s quest to discover whether life exists elsewhere in our solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Evidence of Wate\u003c/strong>r\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists first speculated about the existence of an ocean on Europa when they observed the icy composition of its surface in the late 1970’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, pictures taken by the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft of Europa’s so-called “\u003ca href=\"http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2011/3266.html\">chaos terrain\u003c/a>” showed a peculiar jumbling of cracks and streaks in the ice. These were interpreted as being formed by an icy crust floating atop a deep liquid water ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1147104\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1147104\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain.jpg\" alt=\"Image of "chaos terrain" in Europa's icy crust--visual evidence of the strong possibility that a deep watery ocean exist beneath. \" width=\"1000\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-160x71.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-800x354.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-768x339.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-960x424.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-240x106.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-375x166.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/europa-chaos-terrain-520x230.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of “chaos terrain” in Europa’s icy crust–visual evidence of the strong possibility that a deep watery ocean exist beneath. \u003ccite>(Galileo/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>An even stronger piece of evidence for a hidden ocean comes from NASA’s Galileo mission, which detected a disturbance in Jupiter’s magnetic field coming from Europa. The disturbance could be explained by the interaction of Jupiter’s magnetic field with an electrically conductive fluid inside Europa–such as a saltwater ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Possibility of Life\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With what’s believed to be a salty ocean thirty or more miles deep and containing two or three times the water of Earth’s oceans, Europa may have the conditions needed to sustain life forms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1147101\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1147101\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full.png\" alt=\"Artist concept showing a cross section of Europa's icy crust floating atop the suspected water, with crevasses spewing the ocean waters through the surface. \" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-768x576.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-240x180.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-375x281.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/731656main_pia16826-full_full-520x390.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept showing a cross section of Europa’s icy crust floating atop the suspected water, with crevasses spewing the ocean waters through the surface. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Indeed, it’s not a huge stretch to imagine an environment similar to certain places on Earth where life forms thrive under extremely harsh conditions. We call those organisms “\u003ca href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/extremophile.html\">extremophiles\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether in the coldest bottoms of Antarctic or alpine lakes, or in the scalding hot and toxic waters of geothermal pools, or in pitch blackness on the ocean floor surrounding hydro-thermal vents, Earth’s “extremophiles” have proven they can flourish under extreme conditions that could mirror those on Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remember Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010: Odyssey 2, involving a mission to Jupiter and a side-trip to Europa?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie\u003cem> \u003c/em>version gave us a brief glimpse of something green emerging from Europa’s ice — the enormous tendril-like vines described in the book that pulled a doomed Chinese spacecraft into the cold dark depths below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clark’s science fiction account of Europa made some of us thirsty to explore the moon’s mysterious ocean depths. Yet today, almost thirty-five years later, direct exploration of those waters–say with some form of ice-boring submarine robot–isn’t on the horizon. But scientists \u003cem>are\u003c/em> zeroing in on a better understanding of what lies beneath Europa’s frozen surface. As NASA’s life-searching mantra goes, “Follow the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1147097/vapor-plumes-on-jupiters-moon-europa-show-new-evidence-of-water","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28"],"tags":["science_2356","science_498","science_1064","science_5175","science_843","science_833","science_201"],"featImg":"science_1147099","label":"science"},"science_29122":{"type":"posts","id":"science_29122","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"29122","score":null,"sort":[1428930014000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"alien-life-might-live-in-our-own-solar-system","title":"Alien Life Might Live in Our Own Solar System","publishDate":1428930014,"format":"aside","headTitle":"Alien Life Might Live in Our Own Solar System | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cdiv class=\"audio-wrap\">\n\u003ch2>Listen:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2015/04/20150413ScienceSolarSystemLife.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_29154\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/Enceladus-e1428707689654.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29154\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/Enceladus-e1428707689654.jpg\" alt=\"An artist's rendering of vents on Saturn's moon Enceladus. New research suggests water below the surface there is near boiling hot and could be habitable for microbial life. (David Seal/NASA)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist’s rendering of vents on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. New research suggests water below the surface there is near boiling hot and could be habitable for microbial life. (David Seal/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are thousands of planets orbiting stars in Earth’s galactic neighborhood. Scientists are spotting new planets so fast it’s hard to keep up — and many of them could be habitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we’re going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade,” \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-nasa-search-alien-life-20150407-story.html\">said NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan\u003c/a> last week. “I think we’re going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, we might find alien life right here in our own backyard, just a few planets over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Life — at least, life as we know it — requires liquid water, more and more of which \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/13/science/space/suddenly-it-seems-water-is-everywhere-in-solar-system.html\">keeps turning up\u003c/a> around the solar system. Research \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/articles/nature14262.epdf?referrer_access_token=TIJP4EwwMbxZ9hQ9sCXqRNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MfNjfSDEXIGYUVERnxB4yt1qm3vncv6g0T2d4NhWGHs7O9c8Esa6txChvxJCKD9sAE7lIUHsxgJv72rpaMa0etTtSTViTyGTBJxE5E2Y1H-9Kxbv-hyjLlQgO6Y0ICrZR6KI8SpFqUYkFuvRdaV1rU5jxiKfVSTukyweAxnbUZ0_xzi0pcBKYP7AkjaQ0skO6YzPb9c5GRAD1S-EB14paO&tracking_referrer=www.nytimes.com\">published last month\u003c/a> in the journal Nature says one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus, has water that’s near boiling — cozy, for certain forms of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But we aren’t likely to find Hollywood aliens like the one that exploded out of Sigourney Weaver’s shipmate, or that stalked “Men in Black’s” Tommy Lee Jones: “Imagine a giant cockroach with unlimited strength, a massive inferiority complex, and a real short temper.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘I think we’re going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade.’\u003ccite>— Ellen Stofan,\u003cbr>\nNASA’s Chief Scientist\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Rather, experts say there’s a good chance of finding microbial aliens. After all, by some measures microbes are the dominant form of life here on Earth. They were here a couple billion years before us, or dinosaurs or even jellyfish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tori Hoehler is a chemist who studies microbiology at \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/\">NASA’s Ames Research Center \u003c/a>in Mountain View; the facility also happens to boast the world’s largest wind tunnel. Hoehler says one place to get a glimpse of the ancient world is on the roof above his office. “Some people think a time machine looks like a DeLorean,” he says, referencing “Back To The Future’s” time-traveling car. “But it actually looks like a greenhouse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside NASA’s greenhouse are boxes containing thick carpets of what Hoehler calls “orange goo.” It’s hard to fathom, but this is almost entirely made up of microbes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every cubic centimeter in there would have about a trillion individuals in it,” Hoehler says, “microbial cells.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This gunk is the bulk of life’s history on Earth. If alien explorers had visited Earth two billion years ago looking for life, Hoehler says, “they would’ve found a slime world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As scientists develop an ever clearer picture of the outer solar system, the odds of finding a place that resembles a slime world are looking decent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_29128\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 272px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/Enceladus1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-29128\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/Enceladus1.jpg\" alt=\"New research says water below the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus is near boiling hot. “It has no excuse for having the degree of geologic activity that we found there,” says one planetary geologist. (NASA)\" width=\"272\" height=\"320\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New research says water below the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus is near boiling hot. “It has no excuse for having the degree of geologic activity that we found there,” says one planetary geologist. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Moons in the Outer Solar System\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saturn’s moon Enceladus is tiny – just 300 miles in diameter. It doesn’t have the mysterious methane lakes and dense atmosphere of Titan, another one of Saturn’s moons. It also lacks the convenient proximity of Mars. Trips to the red planet from Earth can be measured in months, while missions to Saturn take years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Planetary geologist Cynthia Phillips says Enceladus’ claim to fame are its geysers, which spew ice out into Saturn’s rings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found these plumes actually venting material from near the south pole of Enceladus, and that was really surprising,” Phillips says. “It has no excuse for having the degree of geologic activity that we’ve found there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phillips works at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.seti.org/\">SETI Institute\u003c/a> in Mountain View. SETI stands for Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, although for Phillips, that last bit is not a deal-breaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t have to be intelligent life,” she says. “Any kind of life. I’ll take microbes, I’ll take single-celled organisms — anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moons orbiting gas giants like Saturn and Jupiter are subject to immense gravitational forces; these pull on and flex the moons’ crusts. The resulting friction leads to a process called “tidal heating.” Phillips points fondly to a globe of Europa. The icy moon that orbits Jupiter is a potential candidate for life (and future exploration) and is Phillips’ avowed favorite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being five times as far from the sun as Earth, Europa gets 25 times less energy, meaning life there can’t bank on the sun for warmth. Tidal heating could be a tidy alternative, keeping some water in liquid form below the surface of moons like Europa and Enceladus. Recent research from the University of Colorado, Boulder, suggests that water under the surface of Enceladus is actually quite hot – 194 degrees Fahrenheit – well within the known parameters of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And even if it’s only bacteria,” says Seth Shostak, senior astronomer and research director at SETI, “that tells you that biology is all over the place. That’s big news!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ever More Possibilities\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shostak says there are \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?Category=Planets&IM_ID=20089\">several places\u003c/a> in the solar system where life could turn up. In addition to Europa, there are signs of subsurface oceans on two other moons of Jupiter: Callisto and Ganymede. And those oceans are some 20 times deeper than Earth’s Pacific Ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_29123\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/PierceLife-1024x515.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-29123\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/PierceLife-1024x515.jpg\" alt=\"Life could turn up in several places around the solar system; here are a few scientists are curious about. (David Pierce/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Life could turn up in several places around the solar system; here are a few scientists are curious about. (David Pierce/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Each of those has an ocean that’s maybe 60 miles deep,” says Shostak, “so this is incredibly large amounts of water. On these moons there’s more water — twice as much water as on the Earth. It’s been sitting there for four billion years, maybe it’s cooked something up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it has, life there could well be quite different from Earthly biology. DNA may not even be a factor. In fact, alien life could theoretically get by without carbon or water at all, instead substituting alternatives like silicon and ammonia. While some astrobiologists say this “weird life” could occur in the clouds of Venus, most believe life in the solar system is staked around liquid water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as \u003ca href=\"http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/\">more data streams in\u003c/a> from nearby stars, it looks like about one in five has a planet somewhat like Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well, \u003cem>somewhat\u003c/em> might be good enough for microbes,” says Shostak. “So if that’s the case, that means that there are on the order of maybe a hundred billion worlds in our galaxy that have biology, if biology’s easy to cook up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a very big number, Shostak says – and keep in mind, there are 150 billion other galaxies out there, at least that we can see.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"NASA's top scientist says she thinks evidence of life beyond Earth will turn up in the next couple of decades. Why so optimistic? Scientists have been discovering liquid water all around the solar system, and even though life on other planets might look different than it does here on Earth, scientists bet liquid water will be essential.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704932007,"stats":{"hasAudio":true,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":29,"wordCount":1247},"headData":{"title":"Alien Life Might Live in Our Own Solar System | KQED","description":"NASA's top scientist says she thinks evidence of life beyond Earth will turn up in the next couple of decades. Why so optimistic? Scientists have been discovering liquid water all around the solar system, and even though life on other planets might look different than it does here on Earth, scientists bet liquid water will be essential.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Alien Life Might Live in Our Own Solar System","datePublished":"2015-04-13T13:00:14.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-11T00:13:27.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"audioUrl":"http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2015/04/20150413ScienceSolarSystemLife.mp3","sticky":false,"path":"/science/29122/alien-life-might-live-in-our-own-solar-system","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cdiv class=\"audio-wrap\">\n\u003ch2>Listen:\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"audioLink","attributes":{"named":{"src":"http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2015/04/20150413ScienceSolarSystemLife.mp3"},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_29154\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/Enceladus-e1428707689654.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29154\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/Enceladus-e1428707689654.jpg\" alt=\"An artist's rendering of vents on Saturn's moon Enceladus. New research suggests water below the surface there is near boiling hot and could be habitable for microbial life. (David Seal/NASA)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist’s rendering of vents on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. New research suggests water below the surface there is near boiling hot and could be habitable for microbial life. (David Seal/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are thousands of planets orbiting stars in Earth’s galactic neighborhood. Scientists are spotting new planets so fast it’s hard to keep up — and many of them could be habitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we’re going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade,” \u003ca href=\"http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-nasa-search-alien-life-20150407-story.html\">said NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan\u003c/a> last week. “I think we’re going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, we might find alien life right here in our own backyard, just a few planets over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Life — at least, life as we know it — requires liquid water, more and more of which \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/13/science/space/suddenly-it-seems-water-is-everywhere-in-solar-system.html\">keeps turning up\u003c/a> around the solar system. Research \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/articles/nature14262.epdf?referrer_access_token=TIJP4EwwMbxZ9hQ9sCXqRNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MfNjfSDEXIGYUVERnxB4yt1qm3vncv6g0T2d4NhWGHs7O9c8Esa6txChvxJCKD9sAE7lIUHsxgJv72rpaMa0etTtSTViTyGTBJxE5E2Y1H-9Kxbv-hyjLlQgO6Y0ICrZR6KI8SpFqUYkFuvRdaV1rU5jxiKfVSTukyweAxnbUZ0_xzi0pcBKYP7AkjaQ0skO6YzPb9c5GRAD1S-EB14paO&tracking_referrer=www.nytimes.com\">published last month\u003c/a> in the journal Nature says one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus, has water that’s near boiling — cozy, for certain forms of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But we aren’t likely to find Hollywood aliens like the one that exploded out of Sigourney Weaver’s shipmate, or that stalked “Men in Black’s” Tommy Lee Jones: “Imagine a giant cockroach with unlimited strength, a massive inferiority complex, and a real short temper.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘I think we’re going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade.’\u003ccite>— Ellen Stofan,\u003cbr>\nNASA’s Chief Scientist\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Rather, experts say there’s a good chance of finding microbial aliens. After all, by some measures microbes are the dominant form of life here on Earth. They were here a couple billion years before us, or dinosaurs or even jellyfish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tori Hoehler is a chemist who studies microbiology at \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/\">NASA’s Ames Research Center \u003c/a>in Mountain View; the facility also happens to boast the world’s largest wind tunnel. Hoehler says one place to get a glimpse of the ancient world is on the roof above his office. “Some people think a time machine looks like a DeLorean,” he says, referencing “Back To The Future’s” time-traveling car. “But it actually looks like a greenhouse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside NASA’s greenhouse are boxes containing thick carpets of what Hoehler calls “orange goo.” It’s hard to fathom, but this is almost entirely made up of microbes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every cubic centimeter in there would have about a trillion individuals in it,” Hoehler says, “microbial cells.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This gunk is the bulk of life’s history on Earth. If alien explorers had visited Earth two billion years ago looking for life, Hoehler says, “they would’ve found a slime world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As scientists develop an ever clearer picture of the outer solar system, the odds of finding a place that resembles a slime world are looking decent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_29128\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 272px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/Enceladus1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-29128\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/Enceladus1.jpg\" alt=\"New research says water below the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus is near boiling hot. “It has no excuse for having the degree of geologic activity that we found there,” says one planetary geologist. (NASA)\" width=\"272\" height=\"320\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New research says water below the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus is near boiling hot. “It has no excuse for having the degree of geologic activity that we found there,” says one planetary geologist. (NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Moons in the Outer Solar System\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saturn’s moon Enceladus is tiny – just 300 miles in diameter. It doesn’t have the mysterious methane lakes and dense atmosphere of Titan, another one of Saturn’s moons. It also lacks the convenient proximity of Mars. Trips to the red planet from Earth can be measured in months, while missions to Saturn take years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Planetary geologist Cynthia Phillips says Enceladus’ claim to fame are its geysers, which spew ice out into Saturn’s rings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found these plumes actually venting material from near the south pole of Enceladus, and that was really surprising,” Phillips says. “It has no excuse for having the degree of geologic activity that we’ve found there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phillips works at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.seti.org/\">SETI Institute\u003c/a> in Mountain View. SETI stands for Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, although for Phillips, that last bit is not a deal-breaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t have to be intelligent life,” she says. “Any kind of life. I’ll take microbes, I’ll take single-celled organisms — anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moons orbiting gas giants like Saturn and Jupiter are subject to immense gravitational forces; these pull on and flex the moons’ crusts. The resulting friction leads to a process called “tidal heating.” Phillips points fondly to a globe of Europa. The icy moon that orbits Jupiter is a potential candidate for life (and future exploration) and is Phillips’ avowed favorite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being five times as far from the sun as Earth, Europa gets 25 times less energy, meaning life there can’t bank on the sun for warmth. Tidal heating could be a tidy alternative, keeping some water in liquid form below the surface of moons like Europa and Enceladus. Recent research from the University of Colorado, Boulder, suggests that water under the surface of Enceladus is actually quite hot – 194 degrees Fahrenheit – well within the known parameters of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And even if it’s only bacteria,” says Seth Shostak, senior astronomer and research director at SETI, “that tells you that biology is all over the place. That’s big news!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ever More Possibilities\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shostak says there are \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?Category=Planets&IM_ID=20089\">several places\u003c/a> in the solar system where life could turn up. In addition to Europa, there are signs of subsurface oceans on two other moons of Jupiter: Callisto and Ganymede. And those oceans are some 20 times deeper than Earth’s Pacific Ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_29123\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/PierceLife-1024x515.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-29123\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/04/PierceLife-1024x515.jpg\" alt=\"Life could turn up in several places around the solar system; here are a few scientists are curious about. (David Pierce/KQED)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"515\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Life could turn up in several places around the solar system; here are a few scientists are curious about. (David Pierce/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Each of those has an ocean that’s maybe 60 miles deep,” says Shostak, “so this is incredibly large amounts of water. On these moons there’s more water — twice as much water as on the Earth. It’s been sitting there for four billion years, maybe it’s cooked something up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it has, life there could well be quite different from Earthly biology. DNA may not even be a factor. In fact, alien life could theoretically get by without carbon or water at all, instead substituting alternatives like silicon and ammonia. While some astrobiologists say this “weird life” could occur in the clouds of Venus, most believe life in the solar system is staked around liquid water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as \u003ca href=\"http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/\">more data streams in\u003c/a> from nearby stars, it looks like about one in five has a planet somewhat like Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Well, \u003cem>somewhat\u003c/em> might be good enough for microbes,” says Shostak. “So if that’s the case, that means that there are on the order of maybe a hundred billion worlds in our galaxy that have biology, if biology’s easy to cook up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a very big number, Shostak says – and keep in mind, there are 150 billion other galaxies out there, at least that we can see.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/29122/alien-life-might-live-in-our-own-solar-system","authors":["6609"],"categories":["science_28","science_46","science_30","science_40","science_43"],"tags":["science_2356","science_64","science_576"],"featImg":"science_29154","label":"science"},"science_28259":{"type":"posts","id":"science_28259","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"28259","score":null,"sort":[1426865708000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"cassini-detects-signs-of-conditions-friendly-to-life","title":"Cassini Detects Signs of Conditions Friendly to Life","publishDate":1426865708,"format":"aside","headTitle":"Cassini Detects Signs of Conditions Friendly to Life | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_28260\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/PIA19058_hires-cr.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28260\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/PIA19058_hires-cr.jpg\" alt=\"Cutaway illustration of Saturn's moon Enceladus, showing subsurface ocean and surface water vapor plumes (NASA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This cutaway illustration of Saturn’s moon Enceladus shows a subsurface ocean with hydrothermal activity, where water interacts with heat deep inside the moon, and erupts through the surface in plumes of vapor. (Cassini/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s an exciting time to be an astrobiologist looking for life beyond Earth, with signs of water spouting up all over the solar system. In the latest example, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has delivered clear evidence that, far beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s small moon Enceladus, hydrothermal activity may be at work, similar to what we find in some life-friendly environments on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes three leading contenders for bodies in our solar system that possess life-friendly conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jupiter’s moon Europa hides under its icy crust what may be the largest ocean in the solar system, and there has been a renewed interest in \u003ca title=\"NASA planning a mission to explore Europa's ocean\" href=\"http://www.demanjo.com/news/science/607662/nasa-plans-life-searching-mission-on-jupiter%E2%80%99s-satellite-europa.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mounting a mission\u003c/a> to explore it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And NASA’s Curiosity rover continues to quench our thirst for finding signs of liquid water in Mars’ distant past. Curiosity is currently \u003ca title=\"NASA/Curiosity drilling for signs of ancient water\" href=\"http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1782\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prospecting the water-deposited sedimentary layers\u003c/a> on Mount Sharp, left behind by ancient surface seas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_28265\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/PIA17184_hires-sm.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28265\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/PIA17184_hires-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Water vapor plumes erupting from Saturn's moon Enceladus (Cassini/NASA)\" width=\"320\" height=\"186\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water vapor plumes erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. (Cassini/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It has been a decade since Cassini first captured images of plumes of material erupting from great fissures in the icy crust of Enceladus, material that it later identified as water mixed with smaller amounts of nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide. These plumes told us there was liquid water beneath the surface. We thought at the time that the water may be held in some kind of geyser chamber heated and pressurized by tidal energy supplied by Saturn’s gravity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over its decade of exploration Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) instrument has also repeatedly detected microscopic solid particles flying about the Saturn system. Researchers have identified the particles as silica grains — the same material found in sand and quartz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The very consistent sizes of the particles (the largest between 6 and 9 nanometers) has led scientists to conclude that they were produced by a very specific process: hot, alkaline liquid water super-saturated with minerals experiencing a sudden and drastic drop in temperature. Where, it was asked, might these conditions exist in the Saturn system, and by what mechanism would the silica grains be delivered into space, where Cassini detected them? Enceladus, with its liquid water ocean and water vapor plumes spraying into space, satisfies both of these questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar conditions exist here on Earth. On the floor of our ocean, usually at the boundaries of crustal plates, are found \u003ca title=\"Hydrothermal vents\" href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hydrothermal vents\u003c/a>. These are underwater hot springs formed when seawater, percolating into the ocean floor, comes into contact with hot magma. Plumes of hot water erupt through vents in the ocean floor, carrying dissolved minerals. Some of those minerals solidify on contacting cold ocean water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_28267\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 350px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/whitesmokers_noaa.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28267\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/whitesmokers_noaa.jpg\" alt='\"White smokers\"--hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor (NOAA)' width=\"350\" height=\"197\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">White smokers — hydrothermal vents on Earth’s ocean floor (NOAA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The mineral structures that build up around the vents, along with the smoke-like plumes that spout from them, are called \u003ca title=\"Black smokers and white smokers\" href=\"http://hydrothermalventszcrenshaw.weebly.com/black--white-smokers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“black smokers” and “white smokers.”\u003c/a> Black smokers form around hotter hydrothermal vents, and get their black color from iron monosulfide. The less common white smokers form around cooler vents, their white color coming from chemicals like barium, calcium, and silicon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These deep ocean smokers create environments that support life: communities of organisms sustained entirely by heat and chemical energy coming from Earth’s interior, no sunlight required! And though the life forms found around the vents probably originated from Earth’s sunlit surface, this does not rule out a genesis scenario where life might originate within such an environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s where \u003ca title=\"NASA/Cassini detects hydrothermal activity on Enceladus\" href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/march/spacecraft-data-suggest-saturn-moons-ocean-may-harbor-hydrothermal-activity/#.VQcQYtLF98F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cassini’s discovery\u003c/a> gets really exciting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Analysis of the silica grains detected by Cassini indicate that hydrothermal activity similar to that on Earth is taking place on the floor of Enceladus’ ocean, where water, under great pressure at depth, interacts with heat and minerals emerging from the moon’s interior. For the hydrothermal vents to produce these particular silica grains, the temperatures must be at least 194 degrees Fahrenheit. If not super-hot black smokers, might Enceladus have something like our own white smokers going on?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The possibilities are tantalizing. Finding even one microbe out there would, in an instant, resolve one of the most profound scientific, philosophical, and human questions of all time: are we alone? That question was once phrased, “Is there life out there?” These days, it’s starting to sound more like, “How many places will we find it?”\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Far beneath the icy crust of Saturn's small moon Enceladus, hydrothermal activity may be at work, activity similar to what is found in some life-friendly environments on Earth.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704932106,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":15,"wordCount":792},"headData":{"title":"Cassini Detects Signs of Conditions Friendly to Life | KQED","description":"Far beneath the icy crust of Saturn's small moon Enceladus, hydrothermal activity may be at work, activity similar to what is found in some life-friendly environments on Earth.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Cassini Detects Signs of Conditions Friendly to Life","datePublished":"2015-03-20T15:35:08.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-11T00:15:06.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/28259/cassini-detects-signs-of-conditions-friendly-to-life","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_28260\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/PIA19058_hires-cr.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28260\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/PIA19058_hires-cr.jpg\" alt=\"Cutaway illustration of Saturn's moon Enceladus, showing subsurface ocean and surface water vapor plumes (NASA)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This cutaway illustration of Saturn’s moon Enceladus shows a subsurface ocean with hydrothermal activity, where water interacts with heat deep inside the moon, and erupts through the surface in plumes of vapor. (Cassini/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s an exciting time to be an astrobiologist looking for life beyond Earth, with signs of water spouting up all over the solar system. In the latest example, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has delivered clear evidence that, far beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s small moon Enceladus, hydrothermal activity may be at work, similar to what we find in some life-friendly environments on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes three leading contenders for bodies in our solar system that possess life-friendly conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jupiter’s moon Europa hides under its icy crust what may be the largest ocean in the solar system, and there has been a renewed interest in \u003ca title=\"NASA planning a mission to explore Europa's ocean\" href=\"http://www.demanjo.com/news/science/607662/nasa-plans-life-searching-mission-on-jupiter%E2%80%99s-satellite-europa.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mounting a mission\u003c/a> to explore it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And NASA’s Curiosity rover continues to quench our thirst for finding signs of liquid water in Mars’ distant past. Curiosity is currently \u003ca title=\"NASA/Curiosity drilling for signs of ancient water\" href=\"http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1782\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prospecting the water-deposited sedimentary layers\u003c/a> on Mount Sharp, left behind by ancient surface seas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_28265\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 320px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/PIA17184_hires-sm.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28265\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/PIA17184_hires-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Water vapor plumes erupting from Saturn's moon Enceladus (Cassini/NASA)\" width=\"320\" height=\"186\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water vapor plumes erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. (Cassini/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It has been a decade since Cassini first captured images of plumes of material erupting from great fissures in the icy crust of Enceladus, material that it later identified as water mixed with smaller amounts of nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide. These plumes told us there was liquid water beneath the surface. We thought at the time that the water may be held in some kind of geyser chamber heated and pressurized by tidal energy supplied by Saturn’s gravity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over its decade of exploration Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) instrument has also repeatedly detected microscopic solid particles flying about the Saturn system. Researchers have identified the particles as silica grains — the same material found in sand and quartz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The very consistent sizes of the particles (the largest between 6 and 9 nanometers) has led scientists to conclude that they were produced by a very specific process: hot, alkaline liquid water super-saturated with minerals experiencing a sudden and drastic drop in temperature. Where, it was asked, might these conditions exist in the Saturn system, and by what mechanism would the silica grains be delivered into space, where Cassini detected them? Enceladus, with its liquid water ocean and water vapor plumes spraying into space, satisfies both of these questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar conditions exist here on Earth. On the floor of our ocean, usually at the boundaries of crustal plates, are found \u003ca title=\"Hydrothermal vents\" href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hydrothermal vents\u003c/a>. These are underwater hot springs formed when seawater, percolating into the ocean floor, comes into contact with hot magma. Plumes of hot water erupt through vents in the ocean floor, carrying dissolved minerals. Some of those minerals solidify on contacting cold ocean water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_28267\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 350px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/whitesmokers_noaa.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28267\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/03/whitesmokers_noaa.jpg\" alt='\"White smokers\"--hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor (NOAA)' width=\"350\" height=\"197\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">White smokers — hydrothermal vents on Earth’s ocean floor (NOAA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The mineral structures that build up around the vents, along with the smoke-like plumes that spout from them, are called \u003ca title=\"Black smokers and white smokers\" href=\"http://hydrothermalventszcrenshaw.weebly.com/black--white-smokers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“black smokers” and “white smokers.”\u003c/a> Black smokers form around hotter hydrothermal vents, and get their black color from iron monosulfide. The less common white smokers form around cooler vents, their white color coming from chemicals like barium, calcium, and silicon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These deep ocean smokers create environments that support life: communities of organisms sustained entirely by heat and chemical energy coming from Earth’s interior, no sunlight required! And though the life forms found around the vents probably originated from Earth’s sunlit surface, this does not rule out a genesis scenario where life might originate within such an environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s where \u003ca title=\"NASA/Cassini detects hydrothermal activity on Enceladus\" href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/march/spacecraft-data-suggest-saturn-moons-ocean-may-harbor-hydrothermal-activity/#.VQcQYtLF98F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cassini’s discovery\u003c/a> gets really exciting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Analysis of the silica grains detected by Cassini indicate that hydrothermal activity similar to that on Earth is taking place on the floor of Enceladus’ ocean, where water, under great pressure at depth, interacts with heat and minerals emerging from the moon’s interior. For the hydrothermal vents to produce these particular silica grains, the temperatures must be at least 194 degrees Fahrenheit. If not super-hot black smokers, might Enceladus have something like our own white smokers going on?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The possibilities are tantalizing. Finding even one microbe out there would, in an instant, resolve one of the most profound scientific, philosophical, and human questions of all time: are we alone? That question was once phrased, “Is there life out there?” These days, it’s starting to sound more like, “How many places will we find it?”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/28259/cassini-detects-signs-of-conditions-friendly-to-life","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_29"],"tags":["science_2356","science_498","science_330","science_503","science_1064","science_5180","science_5179","science_5175","science_309","science_201"],"featImg":"science_28260","label":"science"}},"programsReducer":{"possible":{"id":"possible","title":"Possible","info":"Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.","airtime":"SUN 2pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.possible.fm/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"Possible"},"link":"/radio/program/possible","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/possible/id1677184070","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"}},"1a":{"id":"1a","title":"1A","info":"1A is home to the national conversation. 1A brings on great guests and frames the best debate in ways that make you think, share and engage.","airtime":"MON-THU 11pm-12am","imageSrc":"https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/1a.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://the1a.org/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"npr"},"link":"/radio/program/1a","subscribe":{"npr":"https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/RBrW","apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=1188724250&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/radio/1A-p947376/","rss":"https://feeds.npr.org/510316/podcast.xml"}},"all-things-considered":{"id":"all-things-considered","title":"All Things Considered","info":"Every weekday, \u003cem>All Things Considered\u003c/em> hosts Robert Siegel, Audie Cornish, Ari Shapiro, and Kelly McEvers present the program's trademark mix of news, interviews, commentaries, reviews, and offbeat features. Michel Martin hosts on the weekends.","airtime":"MON-FRI 1pm-2pm, 4:30pm-6:30pm\u003cbr />SAT-SUN 5pm-6pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/All-Things-Considered-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"npr"},"link":"/radio/program/all-things-considered"},"american-suburb-podcast":{"id":"american-suburb-podcast","title":"American Suburb: The Podcast","tagline":"The flip side of gentrification, told through one town","info":"Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/American-Suburb-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"/news/series/american-suburb-podcast","meta":{"site":"news","source":"kqed","order":"13"},"link":"/news/series/american-suburb-podcast/","subscribe":{"npr":"https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/RBrW","apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?mt=2&id=1287748328","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/radio/American-Suburb-p1086805/","rss":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/american-suburb-podcast/feed/podcast","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkMzMDExODgxNjA5"}},"baycurious":{"id":"baycurious","title":"Bay Curious","tagline":"Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time","info":"KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg","imageAlt":"\"KQED Bay Curious","officialWebsiteLink":"/news/series/baycurious","meta":{"site":"news","source":"kqed","order":"4"},"link":"/podcasts/baycurious","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406","npr":"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious","rss":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/category/bay-curious-podcast/feed/podcast","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvbmV3cy9jYXRlZ29yeS9iYXktY3VyaW91cy1wb2RjYXN0L2ZlZWQvcG9kY2FzdA","stitcher":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/bay-curious","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/6O76IdmhixfijmhTZLIJ8k"}},"bbc-world-service":{"id":"bbc-world-service","title":"BBC World Service","info":"The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.","airtime":"MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service","meta":{"site":"news","source":"BBC World Service"},"link":"/radio/program/bbc-world-service","subscribe":{"apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-World-Service-p455581/","rss":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"}},"code-switch-life-kit":{"id":"code-switch-life-kit","title":"Code Switch / Life Kit","info":"\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />","airtime":"SUN 9pm-10pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Code-Switch-Life-Kit-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","meta":{"site":"radio","source":"npr"},"link":"/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/1112190608?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/3bExJ9JQpkwNhoHvaIIuyV","rss":"https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"}},"commonwealth-club":{"id":"commonwealth-club","title":"Commonwealth Club of California Podcast","info":"The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.","airtime":"THU 10pm, FRI 1am","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts","meta":{"site":"news","source":"Commonwealth Club of California"},"link":"/radio/program/commonwealth-club","subscribe":{"apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/radio/Commonwealth-Club-of-California-p1060/"}},"considerthis":{"id":"considerthis","title":"Consider This","tagline":"Make sense of the day","info":"Make sense of the day. Every weekday afternoon, Consider This helps you consider the major stories of the day in less than 15 minutes, featuring the reporting and storytelling resources of NPR. Plus, KQED’s Bianca Taylor brings you the local KQED news you need to know.","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Consider-This-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg","imageAlt":"Consider This from NPR and KQED","officialWebsiteLink":"/podcasts/considerthis","meta":{"site":"news","source":"kqed","order":"7"},"link":"/podcasts/considerthis","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1503226625?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory","npr":"https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/coronavirusdaily","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM1NS9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbA","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/3Z6JdCS2d0eFEpXHKI6WqH"}},"forum":{"id":"forum","title":"Forum","tagline":"The conversation starts here","info":"KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.","airtime":"MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg","imageAlt":"KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal","officialWebsiteLink":"/forum","meta":{"site":"news","source":"kqed","order":"8"},"link":"/forum","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kqeds-forum/id73329719","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz","npr":"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432307980/forum","stitcher":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqedfm-kqeds-forum-podcast","rss":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC9557381633"}},"freakonomics-radio":{"id":"freakonomics-radio","title":"Freakonomics Radio","info":"Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.","imageSrc":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png","officialWebsiteLink":"http://freakonomics.com/","airtime":"SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm","meta":{"site":"radio","source":"WNYC"},"link":"/radio/program/freakonomics-radio","subscribe":{"npr":"https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b","apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/","rss":"https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"}},"fresh-air":{"id":"fresh-air","title":"Fresh Air","info":"Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.","airtime":"MON-FRI 7pm-8pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Fresh-Air-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/","meta":{"site":"radio","source":"npr"},"link":"/radio/program/fresh-air","subscribe":{"npr":"https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b","apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/radio/Fresh-Air-p17/","rss":"https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"}},"here-and-now":{"id":"here-and-now","title":"Here & Now","info":"A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. 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Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.","airtime":"MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.marketplace.org/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"American Public Media"},"link":"/radio/program/marketplace","subscribe":{"apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=201853034&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/radio/APM-Marketplace-p88/","rss":"https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"}},"mindshift":{"id":"mindshift","title":"MindShift","tagline":"A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids","info":"The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. 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You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg","imageAlt":"KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn","officialWebsiteLink":"/mindshift/","meta":{"site":"news","source":"kqed","order":"2"},"link":"/podcasts/mindshift","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5","npr":"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast","stitcher":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"}},"morning-edition":{"id":"morning-edition","title":"Morning Edition","info":"\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. 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