NASA: We’re going to Europa, hunting for futzin’ alien life
Today was the first day of development for NASA’s mission to get us to Europa. Where we will find life. Giant, multi-tittied omnisexual telepathic beings, who will have no time for us monkeys and our cruelties.
Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered in a thick layer of constantly-shifting ice which appears to be floating atop a deep, warm ocean. Scientists have long suggested that it’s the most likely place that life might have evolved beyond Earth. And now, at last, NASA has confirmed our first mission to Europa has entered the development phase.
Today marked the first day of development for the mission, which will be launched in the 2020s. Europa’s oceans might be twice as big as Earth’s oceans, and scientists speculate that Europa’s seas have a rocky floor and even tides created by Jupiter’s gravitational pull.
John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said in a release:
Today we’re taking an exciting step from concept to mission, in our quest to find signs of life beyond Earth. Observations of Europa have provided us with tantalizing clues over the last two decades, and the time has come to seek answers to one of humanity’s most profound questions.
So this is explicitly a mission to find life. JPL will be handling the construction of the as-yet-unnamed Europa space vessel, with instruments provided by a variety of labs.