As of: March 14, 2024, 10:01 a.m
By: Julian Mayr
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The icy moon Europa is considered a possible home for extraterrestrial life.
The NASA mission “Europe Clipper” is therefore traveling with an earthly message.
Munich - People have long been concerned with the question of whether other life forms exist somewhere in the universe.
So far, extraterrestrial life has lacked any evidence of its existence.
Some researchers still firmly believe that extraterrestrial life forms must exist.
Maybe even in our solar system.
One of the hottest candidates in our “neighborhood” is Jupiter’s moon Europa.
As part of the “Europe Clipper” mission, NASA wants to send a message to any Alines on the satellite.
Message for aliens: NASA sent “record” to Jupiter’s moon Europa
The icy moon Europa is considered a potential site for extraterrestrial life within the solar system.
The presence of carbon dioxide on the surface of Jupiter's moon provides space research with reason to believe.
In autumn 2024, the US space agency will send its own space probe towards Europe.
“Europa Clipper” is intended to take a close look at Jupiter and its satellites.
As with previous missions - such as Voyager - the unmanned NASA probe will have a human message on board in the form of a metal plate for the launch scheduled for October.
The panel, made of the metal tantalum and measuring approximately 18 by 28 centimeters, is intended to seal an opening in the spaceship fairing.
On the outside, wave engravings symbolize sound waves of the word water in more than a hundred languages, the audio files of which NASA has also made available to earthly inhabitants on the Internet.
NASA is sending a message to extraterrestrial life forms on a tantalum plate as part of the “Europe Clipper” mission.
© NASA/JPL Caltech
NASA sends poem, equation and millions of names to Jupiter's moon Europa
The inside of the tantalum plate contains a handwritten engraving of the poem “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europe” by US poet Ada Limón.
A small silicon microchip will also make the long journey to Jupiter's moon.
Inside you can find: the names of more than 2.6 million people who were submitted as part of a NASA campaign.
The chip is embedded in a visual representation of the Jupiter system.
In addition to a portrait of Ron Greeley, one of the founders of modern planetary research, the plate also contains an engraving of the famous Drake equation, as well as a reference to radio frequencies, which researchers on Earth use to listen for extraterrestrial messages.
“The plate brings together the best that humanity has to offer in the universe – science, technology, education, art and mathematics,” explains Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“The message of connection through water, essential to all forms of life as we know it, perfectly illustrates Earth’s connection to this mysterious ocean world we seek to explore.”
NASA's mission will not reach Jupiter's orbit until 2030
It is not to be expected that “Europa Clipper” will actually come across intelligent life on the ice moon that is capable of deciphering the engraved messages.
The scientific goal is rather to take a closer look at the ice cover and the underlying ocean and their interaction.
“Detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential of habitable worlds beyond our planet,” NASA said in a statement.
Jupiter's icy companion: Scientists suspect that Europa may contain extraterrestrial life.
© imago stock&people via www.imago-images.de
However, it will still take around six years for the lunar mission to reach its goal.
According to the plan, “Europa Clipper” will only reach the orbit of the gas giant in 2030 after a journey of more than 2.6 billion kilometers.
A total of 49 close flybys of Europe will be undertaken.
It was only at the end of 2023 that a NASA probe flew closer to Jupiter's moon than ever before.