Life in the solar system
In the mid-2020s NASAwill launch the Europa Clipper spacecraft tomap Europa and conduct chemical analysis of its water plumes, as well as determine the extent of the subsurface ocean, and ESA will send an orbiter to Ganymede, which will help determine if there is a subsurface ocean there. NASA is considering sending a probe, Trident, to Triton, which will also determine potential habitability. 20 The Dragonfly probe to Titan, launching in 2026, whichwill fly to various locations on Titan and investigate the climate, surface chemistry, and the organic compounds present. 21 It has become clear that there are habitable environments elsewhere in the solar system where life as we know it could exist. On several moons in the outer solar system, we know there are conditions which are not too extreme and where the prerequisite compounds and elements for life to exist are present, and over the coming decades a number of other moons will be investigated further, which may yield yet more habitable environments. The search for life in the outer solar system is still in its early stages, and it will be several decades beforewe have conclusive answers. OnMars, on the other hand, the search for life is beginning to enter its final stages. In the next few years, robotic missions will attempt to detect life directly, and sample return will allow powerful analytical tools on Earth to investigate pristine Martian soils in unprecedented detail. The beginning of human exploration of Mars is also starting to loom over the continuation of astrobiology efforts. When humans arrive on Mars, they will bring the capability to definitively determine if life is present either currently or in the past, however it will be the start of a limited window before there is guaranteed to be a microbial biosphere, be it native or not.
20 Mitchell K.L. and the Trident team. Implementation of Trident: a Discovery-Class Mission to Triton, 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2019 (LPI Contrib. No. 2132). 21 Lorenz R.D. and the Dragonfly team. ‘ Dragonfly: A Rotorcraft Lander Concept for Scientific Exploration at Titan ’ , 374 Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest , Volume 34, Number 3 (2018), www.jhuapl.edu/techdigest.
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