Jupiter moon’s ‘aliens secret’
SIGNS of life may exist just a centimetre beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, say scientists.
It is the likeliest place in the solar system to find evidence of extraterrestrial organisms.
A new study claims that amino acids that could be signatures of life would be able to remain for as long as 10 million years.
So US space agency Nasa would not need to drill several metres into Europa, an act presently beyond our capabilities.
Dr Tom Nordheim, an expert on the habitability of icy worlds, said: “These results indicate future missions to Europa’s surface do not need to excavate material to great depths to investigate material and search for potential biosignatures.”
His team found higher regions on the moon will be the best places to look.
Nasa believes it will find extra-terrestrial life in the next two decades and is already planning two missions to Europa.
Scientists believe our Moon could once have supported life. They think conditions would have been suitable for simple life shortly after the moon’s birth four billion years ago.
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