NASA’s mission to determine whether life is lurking beneath the frozen surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa is about to take a big step forward.

NASA announced that it will develop a mission to Europa aimed at determining whether Jupiter’s enigmatic moon, believed to be harboring a global ocean, is habitable."Looking to the future, we're planning a mission to explore Jupiter's fascinating moon Europa, selecting instruments this spring and moving toward the next phase of our work," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said on Monday, as quoted by Forbes.

Astrobiologists have long pointed to Europa as a potential place to look for alien life, because the moon is believed to be harboring a tidally-heated global ocean of liquid water under its frozen crust. If Earth could serve as an indication, water on the Jovian moon could contain all the necessary components for life.





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