Mapping out the search for life on Jupiter's watery moon Europa

LATimes ^ | August 8, 2013, 4:29 p.m | Deborah Netburn

[BenLurkin]

"It does have the right ingredients," said Robert Pappalardo, a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead author of a new study outlining what might be learned from a spacecraft that landed on the mysterious moon.

Sending a lander to Europa is not officially part of NASA's plans, but the agency asked Pappalardo and a far-flung team of planetary scientists to lay out what they would hope to learn if and when a spacecraft landed on the tantalizing moon.

In a study published in the journal Astrobiology, the team said it was mostly interested in Europa's chemical composition - learning what makes up the rust-colored freckles and cracks that stain its surface, and if there are any organic materials that could serve as the building blocks of life as we know it.

[Only1choice____Freedom]

Bad idea:

“ALL THESE WORLDS
ARE YOURS EXCEPT
EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO
LANDING THERE”

David Bowman will prevent it.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin.