TLDR · SCIENCE & FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY
NASA SPACECRAFT TO PROBE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE IN EUROPA'S SALTY OCEAN
Summary from the TLDR newsletter
Jupiter's moon Europa possibly contains a liquid saltwater ocean that may be potentially as welcoming to life as Earth's. In 2030, NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will swoop past the moon in a series of nearly 50 flybys to remotely probe the ocean in hopes of finding a chemistry that could support life. It may even be capable of detecting microbes directly. It will be a habitability mission rather than a life search mission. If Europa is found to be habitable to life, it could fundamentally change the definition of a habitable zone around a star as it would mean that all that is required for life is ice and gravitational tides.