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Aside from Earth, no planets in the solar system are known to harbor life. Mars, Europa, and Titan are considered to have once had or currently have conditions permitting the existence of life. Multiple rovers have been sent to Mars, while Europa Clipper is planned to reach Europa in 2030, and the Dragonfly space probe is planned to launch in 2027.
An estimate of the range of distances from the Sun allowing the existence of liquid water appears in Newton's Principia (Book III, Section 1, corol. 4). [23] The philosopher Louis Claude de Saint-Martin speculated in his 1802 work Man: His True Nature and Ministry, "... we may presume, that, being susceptible of vegetation, it [the Earth] has been placed, in the series of planets, in the rank ...
The discovery of exoplanets, beginning in the early 1990s [8] [9] and accelerating thereafter, has provided further information for the study of possible extraterrestrial life. These findings confirm that the Sun is not unique among stars in hosting planets and expands the habitability research horizon beyond the Solar System.
Life on Europa could exist clustered around hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, or below the ocean floor, where endoliths are known to inhabit on Earth. Alternatively, it could exist clinging to the lower surface of Europa's ice layer, much like algae and bacteria in Earth's polar regions, or float freely in Europa's ocean. [ 188 ]
In astrobiology and planetary astrophysics, the galactic habitable zone is the region of a galaxy in which life is most likely to develop. The concept of a galactic habitable zone analyzes various factors, such as metallicity (the presence of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium) and the rate and density of major catastrophes such as supernovae, and uses these to calculate which regions ...
Whether microbial life exists in that ocean is unknown, but the Europa Clipper's instruments will try to find out if it's at least possible. "Europa is an ice covered moon of Jupiter, about the ...
To support an Earth-like atmosphere for about 4.6 billion years (Earth's current age), a moon with a Mars-like density is estimated to need at least 7% of Earth's mass. [20] One way to decrease loss from sputtering is for the moon to have a strong magnetic field of its own that can deflect stellar wind and radiation belts.
Ahead of the spacecraft is a 1.8 billion-mile journey to Europa on a trajectory taking it past Mars and then Earth, using the planets’ gravity as a slingshot to add speed for the trek.