Antwort Why is NASA going to Europa? Weitere Antworten – Why are scientists interested in Europa

Astrobiologists – scientists who study the origin, evolution, and future of life in the universe – believe Europa has abundant water and the right chemical elements – the building blocks of life – including carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur.NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will launch in October 2024 and will conduct a detailed survey of Jupiter's icy moon Europa to determine whether there are places below the surface that could support life.Europa may be one of the most promising places in our solar system to find present-day environments suitable for some form of life beyond Earth. Scientists believe a saltwater ocean lies beneath its icy shell, holding twice as much water as Earth's global ocean.

What is the mission of NASA to Europa moon : NASA's Europa Clipper is launching Oct. 10, 2024, on the first mission to conduct a detailed science investigation of Jupiter's moon Europa. Scientists predict Europa has a salty ocean beneath its icy crust that could hold the building blocks necessary to sustain life.

Could life exist on Europa

Europa's surface is blasted by radiation from Jupiter. That's a bad thing for life on the surface – it couldn't survive. But the radiation may create fuel for life in an ocean below the surface. The radiation splits apart water molecules (H2O, made of oxygen and hydrogen) in Europa's extremely tenuous atmosphere.

Does NASA think there is life on Europa : There is strong evidence that beneath Europa's frozen exterior of ice lies an ocean of liquid water – one of the essential ingredients for all living organisms. Many scientists believe that this vast subterranean sea could host living microorganisms similar in size and complexity to bacteria found on Earth.

The Galileo spacecraft gave us a major discovery about Europa: the first evidence that the icy moon may have an ocean beneath its surface with more water than all of Earth's oceans combined.

More About the Mission

The mission's three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon's icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology.

What if Europa replaced the Moon

So, if we replaced our Moon with Europa, it would appear roughly the same size in the sky as our Moon does, but brighter — much, much brighter. Europa's surface is made of water ice and so it reflects 5.5 times the sunlight than our Moon does."The question of human exploration at Europa is a very complex one," Szalay said in an email. "The radiation is extremely intense at Europa and estimates suggest an astronaut within a space suit would not be able to survive more than a day on the surface solely due to this intense radiation.A new analysis of data from Juno shows Europa generates 1,000 tons of oxygen every 24 hours. While this is enough to allow 1 million people to breathe for 1 day, it's still less oxygen than scientists previously thought existed on the moon.

"The radiation is extremely intense at Europa and estimates suggest an astronaut within a space suit would not be able to survive more than a day on the surface solely due to this intense radiation. So they'd probably have even bigger problems than oxygen in such an environment."

How likely is life in Europa : Subsurface oceans such as those on Europa are generally expected to lack nutrients because they are so isolated; without sunlight to cook up prebiotic chemistry or to power biological photosynthesis, these buried bodies of water could be bereft of life.

Will we ever visit Europa : NASA's Europa Clipper mission is due to launch in October 2024 and head towards Jupiter's moon Europa, where it will hunt for signs that this icy satellite could be suitable for life.

Why should we go to Europa

Jupiter's moon Europa shows strong evidence for an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust. In fact, it could have all the ingredients needed for life as we know it. NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will perform dozens of close flybys of Europa.

Mars is only about twice the size of Europa. If these two were to collide it would destroy both of them, and depending on the speed of the collision either they would scatter new asteroids all over, or they would in millions of years form a new bigger planet.Europa, one of Jupiter's 95 moons, generates 1,000 tons of oxygen every 24 hours, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Monday. It's enough oxygen to keep a million humans breathing each day, but it's substantially less than scientists previously believed existed, researchers said.

How long would a human survive on Europa : "The question of human exploration at Europa is a very complex one," Szalay said in an email. "The radiation is extremely intense at Europa and estimates suggest an astronaut within a space suit would not be able to survive more than a day on the surface solely due to this intense radiation.