NASA, ESA Send 2 Jupiter Missions to Probe Europa's Ocean for Life
Updated
Updated · KSMU Radio · Jun 11
NASA, ESA Send 2 Jupiter Missions to Probe Europa's Ocean for Life
1 articles · Updated · KSMU Radio · Jun 11
Summary
Europa Clipper and JUICE are already heading to Jupiter to investigate whether Europa and other icy moons could support life beneath their frozen crusts.
Europa is a prime target because tidal heating may keep a liquid ocean 50 to 100 miles deep under 5 to 20 miles of ice, with possible seafloor volcanism supplying energy and chemistry.
NASA's Europa Clipper is due in April 2030 and will make repeated flybys of Europa, while ESA's JUICE arrives in July 2031 to study Jupiter's icy moons before orbiting Ganymede.
Hubble-based evidence for Europa geysers was weakened in a 2026 update, leaving the plume question open even as both missions carry instruments to search for life-forming chemical signatures.