Believed to be a planet that is home to liquid water beneath the surface of the thick icy crust, NASA researchers believe that Europa is one of the candidates to find life within our solar system.
In a new mission that has been outlined and set to launch in the 2020’s, NASA will using many instruments to try and determine whether the moon will be supportive of life.
It has long been theorized by scientists that the heat rising from the bottom of the subterranean ocean could indeed provide a habitable environment for primitive life forms to exist, very much the same way that hydrothermal vents deep in the Earth’s ocean provide a suitable environment for life forms in the deepest pockets of our oceans.
“After five billion years with conditions like that, it could be a very habitable place,” said NASA’s Jim Green. “We believe the environment is just perfect for the potential development of life.” “If we do find life or indications of life that will be an enormous step forward in our understanding of our place in the universe. If there’s life in the solar system and in Europa in particular, it must be everywhere in our galaxy and perhaps even in the universe.”
Read the article here at The Independent.
