Where is NASA aiming after Mars?

Perseverance was NASA’s first true astrobiology mission to seek life on another planet in the Solar System. In the search for life, the Red Planet was one of the most important targets, as astronomers thought Mars had liquid water in the past. But the search for extraterrestrial life is not limited to it either.

Soil samples from Mars; While it will reveal the planet’s past, it will also shed light on missions to other objects in the Solar System. In 2017, NASA described the oceans on Saturn’s moons Titan and Enceladus and on Jupiter’s moon Europa as the most likely places to find life.

The space agency wants to investigate whether these satellites’ underground oceans host life. Therefore, after Perseverance, he will embark on two missions to explore Titan and Europa. The spacecraft called Europa Clipper, which will search for Europa, will be launched in 2024, and the Titan passenger Dragonfly in 2027.

“Tasks for exoplanets such as Europa and Dragonfly will take a lot of time,” said Astrobiologist Jorge Núñez, who was on both Perseverance and Dragonfly missions:

“But we must be open to everything to be found in terms of life possibilities: How does the environment evolve, is life common or rare? And what is out there?”

Source: Independent in Turkish

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