Aliens Might be Real; Astrobiologists are Surveying Jupiter’s Moons to Find Out

An animated picture portrays the Europa-Clipper instruments above Europa’s lunar surface (Wikimedia)

Scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, and SpaceX are collaborating on the United States-led Europa-Clipper mission, which took off on October 14. It will complete a fly-by of Europa, Jupiter’s fourth moon, to analyze the chemical contents of the moon’s subsurface ocean, which spits out water at the celestial body’s southern pole. The mission aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is scheduled to reach Europa six years from now, where it will collaborate with the ESA’s JUICE mission that is already en route to Jupiter’s fourth moon.

To this day, six spacecraft have surveyed Europa, hinting at the presence of an ocean under the moon’s thick ice crust and geological activity occurring, according to NASA. Data from the NASA-led Galileo mission also provided evidence that Europa is venting water into outer space. These findings led NASA and the ESA to plan the JUICE and Europa-Clipper missions to survey the moon and its plume of water in outer space to analyze for potential life-enabling conditions.

The ESA launched JUICE in 2023 as part of its overarching 2015-2025 Cosmic Vision in which it seeks to study what conditions are necessary for the formation of life and understand how our solar system functions.

NASA designed the Europa-Clipper mission as the first to focus exclusively on Europa and discover whether life is possible within its subsurface ocean. The spacecraft will perform around 50 flyby missions, some nearing as close as 25km from the icy surface, eventually mapping its near totality, according to NASA.

To reach this goal, the ESA and NASA formed a joint committee to share surveying  responsibilities between their two probes, according to the ESA. Europa-Clipper will focus on identifying life conditions and a potential landing site for a future Europa mission. Simultaneously, JUICE will analyze the general conditions present in the Jovian System, consisting of several icy moons, including Europa, orbiting Jupiter.

Beyond representing close collaboration between the United States and European nations, Europa-Clipper is also a key moment in the rise of the private space sector. SpaceX reached a new milestone by manufacturing and managing the rocket launch for Europa-Clipper, which is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for a planetary mission, per Satellite Today. SpaceX founder Elon Musk commented on X, calling the launch “an especially important mission.”

While the world must patiently wait another six years to receive definitive data on Europa-Clipper, the mission is already having large implications in the present day. It signals a greater shift toward reliance on the private sector for space exploration and is part of a larger space race that is ramping up between the West and China. 

As both factions seek to achieve significant discoveries and secure strategic gains beyond Earth, astrobiology and the discovery of life on Europa may signal a key potential milestone in international space politics. And, though it likely will not resemble our beloved Star Wars characters, life beyond our blue planet may exist on Europa.