NASA’s Europa Clipper: Hunt for a Second Origin of Life

NASA’s Europa Clipper has started its 1.8 million mile journey to explore the habitability of Jupiter’s icy moon. Dr. Cynthia Phillips of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory explains the Europa Clipper mission, which is currently on its way to Jupiter’s moon Europa. Europa has a layer of ice on its surface, but beneath that is a vast ocean of liquid water, which could be home to life. This very exciting discovery would be proof of an independent source of life, as it is very unlikely that Earth and Europa have exchanged material over the life of our solar system!

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[JamesRamey-ru]

This dear lady is absolutely correct time and I enjoy the way she expresses the scientific optimism of it

[bog]

The way she explained this made it easy to understand 😊

[jerryavila]

This is the mission of missions! Geothermal vents may well be in place, .. I just can’t wait!!!!

[markion]

May the wind be at your back and the stars guide you home Europa Clipper

[primaryendo]

This could be one of (if not the) greatest discoveries in history. It could completely change the way we see the universe. Just imagine, we could assume with good reason there is life throughout the cosmos!

[Machistmo]

I believe that life abounds and we have always been on a journey to find it.

[renatoaraujo]

Im so sure the Universe's full of life ❤

[jevinday]

Mind= blown. Never thought about the fact that life on mars could have the same origin as life on earth, but life on Europa would likely be from a separate source, which totally changes things

[iannorton]

Maybe not a good idea to explore Europa. I've seen the movie. That giant octopus creature lives there under the ice. It doesn't end well for the spaceship crew.

[vallartalocal.foodtoursteq]

Interesting!...What gives it away that there is water under that layer of ice? I'm curious.

[MuhammedAjmalAp]

It's either Europa or titan (saturn)

[shubinternet]

What about life being exchanged between Europa and Mars, as well as Mars and Earth? Could they not all be linked?

[frankengles]

This is exciting!! i cant wait to know what you find

[tigdogsbody]

Hi, can you explain why Earth and Europa don't exchange material?

[MMSS-hnuf]

Think of the number of other solar systems out in space. There is just no way we're the only living beings in all of that vastness. I don't know about Europa since it's so far from the sun, but I love that we're looking.

[notapossum]

I don't feel like I can agree with the first statement. There's still the possibility that life forming twice in the same solar system is an extremely rare occurrence. Our universe is unimaginably vast and mostly unknown to us, so making the assumption that occurrences in our solar system are indicative of what is the norm for the rest of the universe would be jumping to a conclusion based on hardly any data. Especially when our solar system is only 1 of the potentially multiple billions of star systems in our galaxy alone, which is only 1 of the potentially multiple billions of galaxys itself.

[anuj_mhatre]

I’m excited about tech exploring Europa 🪐🛰️, but we won’t find life there. The complexity of atomic molecular state of consciousness isn’t bound by substrates like water, aminoacids, basic proteins or even goldilocks zone alone.

It’s much deeper & complex on a scientific level to be grasped by the planetary consciousness of earth bound life form as of now🌱

[alowitiousmckay]

There is no other life in this solar system. You'll have to find another solar system with a planet comparable to Earth.

[cjb]

“Life”.

We will not enjoy making contact with single cell “life.” I doubt they’d even have phones.

[usprulse]

Here is a bright idea: Maybe the oortcloud is a shield that makes us invisible to other civilization xD