Setting a "potential date" for NASA's discovery of alien life!

Setting a "potential date"

for NASA's discovery of alien life!

NASA could confirm alien life by 2030, after launching its Europa Clipper to

Jupiter's moon next October, a team of scientists has revealed.

The vehicle's journey to the moon "Europe" is scheduled to take 5

and a half years, where it will spend 4 years exploring the ice moon.

A new study analysed :

the tools on board Europa Clipper, and found that they were able to

capture one living cell in a small ice grain released by the Moon's oceans.

The team :

• led by the University of Washington

• concluded that the tools could detect microbes in one of

• hundreds of thousands of ice pellets and identify the chemicals that

are the essential components of life on Earth.

The main author, Fabian Kleiner

said :

"For the first time we showed that even a small fraction of the cellular material

could be determined by the mass spectrometer aboard a spacecraft.

Our results give us :

more confidence that by using developed tools, we will be able

to detect life forms similar to those on Earth

which we believe could be present on ocean polarized satellites. 

NASA :

• chose to study the "Europe" moon because it is abundant 

• with water and specific nutrients

• which may mean it supports life.

Previously :

• scientists have identified 3 key components of life on any planet:

• temperatures that allow liquid water to exist

• carbon-based molecules, and energy inputs such as sunlight.

The new study focused on a common bacterium called Sphingopyxis alaskensis

found in waters off the coast of Alaska.

The Panel selected this sample because it is more solid than most typical

organisms :

and for its ability to survive in cold environments with scattered

nutrients :

characteristics similar to what life may face on "Europe".

"With the right devices :

such as the surface dust analyzer on Europa Clipper, finding life or its effects on

ice satellites may be easier than we thought," said author Frank Bustberg

professor of planetary science at the Free University of Berlin.

The launch of the spacecraft will take place aboard Elon Musk's Falcon Heavy

rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.