Jakarta – It is believed that alien life will be found on Jupiter’s moon Europa in 2030. This is according to the mission that will be carried out by a space vehicle called Europa Clipper worth about IDR 2.8 trillion.
Launch detikInet, the Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch in October this year towards Europa. The probe is expected to travel for five and a half years before reaching its destination and will spend four years exploring the icy moon.
A new study by a team of researchers from the University of Washington has analyzed the instruments on board the Europa Clipper. The results of the study showed that the instrument was able to detect a single living cell in a tiny grain of ice bouncing off Europa’s ocean.
“For the first time we have shown that even small pieces of cellular material can be identified with a mass spectrometer on board a spacecraft,” said lead author of the study, Fabian Klenner, as reported by the Daily Mail, Monday ( 15/4/24).
NASA chose to study Europa because it is rich in water and some nutrients. All this could mean that the moon supports life. Scientists have previously concluded that there must be three key ingredients for planetary life: a temperature that allows for liquid water, the presence of carbon-based molecules, and an input of energy, such as sunlight.
One of the main instruments used is Surface Dust Analysis (SUDA). SUDA detects and characterizes the chemistry of the ice grains that form on Europa’s surface. This instrument is also able to detect negatively charged ions such as fatty acids and lipids, which are the main components of life on Earth.
This article has appeared on detikInet, read in full here.
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2024-04-17 15:31:05
#Aliens #Jupiters #moon
