NASA's Europa Clipper mission, set to launch in 2024, aims to conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon Europa. The spacecraft will perform 45 close flybys over three years, utilizing advanced cameras and spectrometers to map Europa's icy surface and probe its subsurface ocean. Key objectives include confirming the ocean's depth and chemical composition, studying surface features like ridges to understand ice shell dynamics, searching for plumes venting subsurface water into space, and identifying any hot spots or hydrothermal activity. Europa's global ocean, estimated to be 60-150 miles deep, contains twice as much water as Earth's oceans. Tidal forces from Jupiter likely keep it liquid, with potential hydrothermal vents on the seafloor. This environment presents a setting analogous to Earth's deep-sea ecosystems, where life thrives around hydrothermal vents. The Clipper's instruments will search for chemical or geological signatures that could indicate biological processes occurring within the moon's dark ocean depths. milaohaath.com
In addition to NASA's efforts, private companies are contributing to the search for extraterrestrial life. The Venus Life Finder mission, a collaboration between Rocket Lab and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is planned to launch no earlier than summer 2026. This mission aims to detect signs of life in Venus's atmosphere by deploying a small atmospheric probe carrying an autofluorescing nephelometer to search for organic compounds. The mission will demonstrate an inexpensive, deep-space mission with a small spacecraft and small launch vehicle, as well as mature the interplanetary Photon spacecraft. Venus presents a uniquely habitable environment beyond Earth with its thick nitrogen atmosphere, lakes of liquid methane/ethane, and organic molecule haze. Like Europa and Enceladus, it likely has a subsurface ocean in contact with a rocky core. The Venus Life Finder's instruments will assess Venus's chemistry for environments capable of supporting methane-based life, analogous to methanogens in Earth's deep ocean. Identifying chemical signatures or structures suggesting biological processes could provide evidence of life on Venus adapted to freezing conditions. en.wikipedia.org