When you think of aliens you may have a picture of Mars stuck in your brain, with dusty red mountains showing an inhospitable landscape. Now scientists expect there to be life in Europe, an icy planet filled with water that is covered up by a sheet of ice 400-100 miles thick. Scientists believe that this planet could hold life, they don’t think it to be much but they believe that there is flowing water inside its surface, a phenomenon caused by the constant push and pull from the gas giant itself. NASA has sent a probe they called the Europa Clipper, this probe will land and examine the surface. The probe was tasked with figuring out where it is most probable there is life, it can do this by gathering data on the size and salinity of the moon’s oceans. Another task the probe was given was to look for plumes where water is leaking out to search for oxygen and other things, plumes such as these were found on another moon known as Enceladus. The existence of these plumes is not known for sure, so the Europa Clipper may just be limited to hovering around the planet and examining its surface.
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/europa-clipper-launch-jupiter-moon-ocean-habitable/
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03225-4
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