Resumen de Water plumes spark a race to Europa
Recent signs of water gushing from Europa could make Jupiter's icy moon the next hot destination in the hunt for alien life. And novel ways to propel tiny, cheap satellites could get humans there within the next decade--although such a trip won't be easy. Europa has long been one of astrobiologists' most desired destinations. The Galileo probe, which toured the Jovian system between 1995 and 2003, revealed signs of fissures on the moon that may periodically open up, letting water escape from a suspected sub-surface ocean. Although searches for plumes during that period found none, the chance that its seas hold life has made Europa a high-ranking target for the US National Academy of Sciences. So far, however, none of the proposed missions has won NASA funding. Many planetary scientists think they now have the evidence needed to change that.
