Surprising Discovery? In 2028, a spacecraft lands on Europa and melts its way th
ID: 2076590 • Letter: S
Question
Surprising Discovery? In 2028, a spacecraft lands on Europa and melts its way through the ice into the Europan ocean. It finds numerous strange, living microbes, along with a few larger organisms that feed on the microbes.
A. This is likely because biosignatures have already detected on Europa by the Cassini spacecraft.
B. This could happen because there is evidence for an ocean underneath the icy surface of Europa and liquid water is a good place to look for life.
C. This is fantasy because it would take more than 15 years for a spacecraft to reach Saturn using current rocket technology.
D. This is fantasy because the X-ray emission from Saturn has effectively sterilized all of the moons around it.
E. This is fantasy because the icy crust of Europa is too thick (about 20 km) for sunlight to penetrate, precluding the possibility of life in the ocean below.
Explanation / Answer
The signs of life are called bio signatures which includes byproducts of metabolism are found using science instruments on a future mission to Europa. Therefore, the assumption A is correct.
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