In
documents recently acquired by news agency New Scientist and reported
by Gizmodo, NASA will be working with billionaire entrepreneur and
physicist Yuri Milner to launch the first ever private deep-space
mission. This project will look for life, if it exists, on Saturn's moon
Enceladus.
According to the documents, NASA and Milner's
non-profit Breakthrough Starshot Foundation will be working on
scientific, technical and financial plans for this mission. NASA has
committed over $70,000 to produce a concept study for the flyby mission.
This money won't be paid to Breakthrough but represents the agency's
staffing costs for the project. Breakthrough Initiatives would lead and
pay for an Enceladus fly-by mission, with consulting from NASA.
Icy
moons throughout the Jupiter and Saturn moon systems are thought of as
potential candidates for alien life. Jupiter's moon Europa has evidence
of water in the form of plumes spewing water vapour out of the cracks on
its surface.
Similarly, Enceladus has evidence of a warm
ocean and even complex organic molecules. All of this data was obtained
during the Cassini Space mission funded by NASA and ESA. Even though it
orbits Saturn which is even farther from Earth and Jupiter, life may
have evolved deep within the moon around heat emanating from volcanic
vents.Read the full press release here: https://gizmodo.com/report-nasa-and-yuri-milner-working-together-on-life-h-1830309201
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