NASA to Host Live Discussion about Europa Findings, Potential for Life on Monday
This artist’s rendering shows a concept for a future NASA mission to Europa in which a spacecraft would make multiple close flybys of the icy Jovian moon, thought to contain a global subsurface ocean. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA will host a Science Chat at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, May 14, to discuss the latest analysis of Jupiter’s moon Europa and its status as one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for life. The event will air live on NASA Television, Facebook Live, Twitch TV, Ustream, YouTube, Twitter/Periscope and the agency’s website.
Europa has long been a high priority for exploration because beneath its icy crust lies a salty, liquid water ocean. NASA’s Europa Clipper, targeted to launch in 2022, will be equipped with the instruments necessary to determine whether Europa possesses the ingredients necessary to support life as we know it.
Lori Glaze, acting director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD), and JoAnna Wendel, PSD communications lead, will host the chat. Guests include:
- Xianzhe Jia, associate professor in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Elizabeth Turtle, research scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland
- Margaret Kivelson, professor emerita of Space Physics in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles
The public can send questions on social media by using #askNASA at any time during the event.
For more information about Europa Clipper, visit:
For information about NASA’s missions, programs and activities, visit:
SPOILER ALERT
The Science Chat will occur as the scientific journal Nature Astronomy publishes a paper about how NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flew through a plumb of water from Europa a thousand kilometers (620 miles) thick. News of the paper had been embargoed by the journal, but Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) revealed the finding during a subcommittee hearing last week.
