Assessing Habitability and Searching for Life – Europa Clipper and Beyond
When
Where
Dr. Kathleen Craft
Planetary Scientist, Geophysicist, Astrobiologist
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Launched in October 2024, NASA’s Europa Clipper has set out on a journey to assess the habitability of Jupiter’s icy ocean world Europa. After a 5.5 yr cruise that includes gravity assists at Mars and Earth (the Earth flyby will be on Dec 3 of 2026!), the spacecraft will enter orbit around Jupiter and will perform nearly 50 flybys of Europa over a four-year period. The Europa Clipper mission will assess Europa’s habitability by characterizing Europa’s ice shell and ocean, composition, and geology. Additionally, cross-cutting science topics will be investigated including searching for any current or recent activity (i.e., are there plumes or cryovolcanism?) as well as performing reconnaissance for a potential future landed mission. Future missions to ocean worlds include NASA’s Dragonfly mission set to launch to Saturn’s moon, Titan, in 2028, which will analyze samples and determine how far chemistry has progressed towards life in the cold, methane/ethane rich environment. Additionally, a NASA study on capabilities for detecting life, in situ, on ocean worlds and in Martian permafrost is near completion. The study considers estimates for biosignatures levels based on terrestrial ocean and permafrost analogs and performs analyses that trace changes to those biosignature levels from geophysical transport, sample collection and processing, through to analysis – providing an understanding of where technology developments can most enable an in situ search for life at Europa, Enceladus, or Mars permafrost regions.
From Europa Clipper to future life detection missions, the future is promising for making the first discoveries of life outside of Earth!
Host: Dr. Tyler Robinson