A recent study has suggested that a single grain of ice from Jupiter’s moon Europa could hold the key to uncovering evidence of alien life. Scientists believe that if such a grain is captured by NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, it could potentially reveal traces of life or even living organisms.

The Europa Clipper mission, set to launch in October 2024, is expected to perform close fly-bys of Europa starting in 2030. With suitable instrumentation onboard, scientists are hopeful that the spacecraft will make it easier to detect life or signs of it on icy moons.

One of the primary objectives of the mission is to learn more about Europa’s subterranean ocean and the thickness of its ice shell. The discovery of plumes on Europa, similar to those on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, has raised the possibility of life existing in Europa’s ocean.

In a groundbreaking experiment, high-velocity impacts of ice grains carrying bacteria were simulated using Europa Clipper’s Surface Dust Analyzer (SUDA). The results showed that even a tiny fraction of cellular material could be detected by SUDA, increasing the confidence in the mission’s ability to find lifeforms similar to those on Earth.

Furthermore, SUDA has the capability to detect fatty acids and lipids, which are essential components of biological cell membranes. This raises the exciting prospect of potentially uncovering evidence of life in Europa’s ocean through the analysis of these essential building blocks.

As the launch of Europa Clipper approaches, scientists are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to explore Europa and potentially make groundbreaking discoveries that could revolutionize our understanding of alien life in our solar system. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting mission as it progresses towards its launch date.