The basis of this strategy is the idea that water and life are inseparable. Where there is one in the world , and there are always different. There are good reasons to believe that water is the ideal basis of biological life , not only on Earth, but everywhere in the universe. All that is needed is hydrogen and oxygen , which are the first and third in the number of chemical elements in space.In liquid water is unmatched in meeting the needs of life. It provides transmission of biochemical energy , nutrients, and waste elimination . It defines the structure and interaction of proteins and other macromolecules. It protects from the harsh space radiation and has a truly remarkable ability to retain heat . Unlike almost all other substances in the universe, when water freezes it , oddly enough , does not shrink but expands , forming a protective and insulating sheath of ice on the surface. This helps the oceans , lakes and other water storages not freeze through during prolonged cold.
Hunt for water gives a weighty impact those scientists who study Mars . Everyone goes to Mars spacecraft seeks and finds the water. As a result, we now know that our neighboring world was once warmer, wetter and livable . Billions of years ago, all that changed as the planet cooled and lost most of its air and water. Started quiet senescence Mars. But today on Mars is still a sleeping akvasfera , which is locked in the soil in the form of ice , and occasionally rises to the surface in the form of ephemeral saline streams.Officially, the next stage of the NASA Mars Exploration aims to search for signs of life. Presumably , this phase began in the summer of 2012 , when the red planet made a successful landing Curiosity rover the size of a car. It is true that Curiosity able to look for organic carbon in samples of Martian rocks and soil , but mostly he was still on the trail of water. While he was able to ride on a dry riverbed of the ancient river and find a number of signs indicating that part of the ancient water on Mars was suitable for drinking .However , surprisingly , Curiosity can not answer the question of whether there is something on Mars that you can drink , although this time it was enough. Due to its nuclear power source that can wander rover on Mars at least 14 years. That's enough to have joined it more space stations , landers and other ATVs . As a result, by the end of the decade the total number of robots exploring Mars may be more than ten . In the foreseeable future, Mars will be the focus of our science of planets , preventing all other attempts to research other places of the solar system .Our current studies of Mars have become more cautious and methodical . Perhaps this is the result of past searches in search of Martian life . Strategy on the trail of water movement emerged after expensive and ambitious mission spacecraft "Viking" , which landed on Mars in 1976. They were looking for life, but found nothing. Organizers flight was included in the avionics " Viking " camera. Inspired them is none other than the astronomer Carl Sagan (Carl Sagan), who jokingly remarked that focuses exclusively on microbial life lander may not notice loitering near the Martian polar bears.Of course, when the "Vikings" landed , polar bears do not appear . Yes and germs too. Twenty years later, discipline and curb the Mars research community still smarting from a failed mission, " Viking ", and NASA held a press conference announcing her that some of its scientists found in a Martian meteorite microfossils , which are a sign of life. Arguments in favor of microfossils challenged even before the ink was dry on sensational headlines , and a few years of their strongly debunked . But this was already after research on Mars have been allocated money . It was they who helped produce a record harvest of Martian robots.Our obsession about Mars due to its similarity with the Earth , as well as its proximity to us. If you find something on a nearby planet obviously foreign , say , a bacterium that is not based on DNA and RNA , it confirms the fact that life in the two neighboring worlds , moving in an orbit around our lonely yellow star appeared separately and independently from each other. Then we can say that we are not alone , because we will know for sure that life is truly cosmic phenomenon , as is inevitable in our universe, galaxies , stars and planets themselves .Strategy for water hunting has become a necessary , but not the only symbol of this grand aspirations, but unfortunately , now we have an intermission long decades before the main action begins . Uncomfortable truth is that, despite the skill and craftsmanship of our miracles robots scouts search for water on Mars have become everyday and repetitive work space science of the 21st century . Can say with certainty that it astrobiology equivalent of the fresh , but nutritious casseroles, which from time to time prepare your mother-in-law . Those stories in the media, which herald the beginning of the next discovery of water on Mars , more talk about our collective amnesia than about finding a treasured knowledge that changes our view.
In fact, dealing with Mars scientists are forced to temper their dreams , building hypotheses about the ever shrinking window of opportunity for the emergence in the past life on the red planet , as well as the possible remains of life on it . Martian natives , if any exist , it's likely microbes clinging to life somewhere deep beneath the surface of Mars. It is in any case does not detract from the importance of research of our neighboring planet , but we should recognize that there may be other , more promising place to look for extraterrestrial life. In fact, if the hunt for water is the main principle and a landmark in the search for extraterrestrial life , we should tear from their eyes , and look on Mars , if you look to the icy moon of Jupiter called Europe .This cold sun that shines on Jupiter and its moons , dim bulb , four times smaller and 30 times in brightness than our life-giving sun globe , which we see on the horizon the earth . For many years, most scientists believed that the water in the Jupiter system is solid as granite ice , not born life liquid. But these views began to change when the NASA spacecraft " Voyager 1 " and " Voyager 2 " in 1979 photographed Europe , flying past Jupiter during its majestic journey to the outer limits of the solar system .Europe by its size is about the same as Earth's moon , and some scientists thought that she is as old and inert surface , indented scars giant meteor craters . However, they were very surprised when they learned that Europe has a bright icy crust , basically having no surface defects. This is a sign that the outer shell of the planet is quite active to hide typical craters that eventually ulcerate the face of Europe .But Europe does not bark quite flawless. There's a network of zigzag lines . It cracks and fractures in its icy shell . Cracks filled with reddish-brown mineral salts , rising from the depths. Similar to their cobweb patterns suggest that the entire surface crust scrolled over a deep layer - warm, wet and slippery . Most likely , this is a deep ocean. The researchers hypothesized that because Europe revolves around Jupiter , tide-generating force of the giant planet makes the inside of the bend of the moon and its heat due to friction just as heated paperclip , when we bend it back and forth with your fingers . Ocean, formed as a result of tidal heating , there is almost as much as the system itself and Jupiter. Thus , he had left billions of years for the emergence and development of life in its depths .Confirmation of the ocean from Europe appeared only in the mid -1990s , when the NASA spacecraft "Galileo" entered the orbit of Jupiter , and began to study it near the most attractive companion . He took off his " chaotic terrain " where molten lava burst ice, turning it into a jumble of type icebergs , tumbling in a frozen sea. Later , during the measurement of the magnetic field in Europe , the spacecraft showed signs of conductive layer beneath the surface - it is there where it should be created by tidal heating of the ocean salty conductive seawater.If Europe is alive, if in its dark waters , there is some biological life , the consequences will be even more stunning than the discovery of life on Mars. In this case, we turn our gaze to the other satellites of Jupiter, such as Ganymede and Callisto , as well as Saturn's moon Titan and Enceladus . And maybe we will begin to learn and dwarf planet Ceres and Pluto type as there may well be significant subsurface water supplies , heated by a combination of tidal energy and radioactive decay.And if water and life exist there , why they can not exist in the center of large comets that formed before the planets and their moons in the Solar System - Our Solar System may infest hidden from life almost as long as the sun shines , and worlds of ice at the poles may well be the abode of the species in the universe. Life on such planets can exist quite well in spite of all fatal cosmic catastrophes , whether jerk in the interstellar darkness, as do the wandering planet , swimming in the hard radiation from supernovae or the emergence of a black hole. Then we can understand why the universe as our solar system , it seems to us so uninhabitable . Under this scenario, the basic forms of life, even if they have eyes , never see the sky, stars , light and fire . And they have little hope to go beyond its icy cocoon.After discovery "Galileo" Community planetologists there was a small cottage industry . Scientists have calculated the volume of the ocean in Europe and the thickness of ice covering it , hoping somehow to imagine what kind of life can exist in this dark water world - and how it will be within the reach of future probes. The debate lasted for more than ten years , and as a result , researchers have come to believe that the water depth of the abyss of Europe has more than 100 kilometers . Thus , the amount of water in it in two or even three times the amount of water in the earth's oceans .Thick or thin her icy crust, this is a secondary issue . The main issue facing astrobiology is enough in the gloomy depths of the free energy in Europe to maintain the biosphere , is necessary for life , even starvation . If the ice surface under the European energy is small , as many researchers , the ocean in the best case will be settled by a small number of rare alien microbes. But if significant energy reserves , Europe can boast of rich ecosystems consisting of complex multicellular organisms. Maybe there is even such great and terrible creatures like giant deepwater squid, similar to our terrestrial predators of the ocean depths .Europe density calculations indicate that it has an iron core surrounded by a mantle of silicate rock . These rocks may be the ocean floor as a source of mineral salts onto the surface. This is a very useful chemical energy inflow and source of building material for life. Seabed Earth live and thrive community of organisms , completely isolated from the surface and from sunlight. They survive due to chemical reactions generated by hydrothermal vents . Perhaps they will be able to live in hydrothermal vents in the depths of Europe.Many scientists suspect that in such oases bottom of our planet from nonliving matter first life began . If the ice shell is thin and quite lively, useful energy can also penetrate deep into the top through the heat and emissions from periodic comets arriving on Europe . Or can release energy rising from the ocean depths mineral salts, which are oxidized on the surface and then slowly seep down through fissures in the ice. Increasingly, it seems that in contrast to Mars, which in the distant geological past could - emphasize could - be active biosphere, Europe can demonstrate a rich variety of extraterrestrial life right now .Therefore left to wonder why we pay such lavish attention to Mars , while Europe takes so much hope for the presence of life there . Why we hunt for ice crystals under the surface of the desert , instead of exploring alien sea -First, Europe is much more difficult to get than to Mars , and it will seem much less welcoming when you arrive there . Existing space solar power system are unlikely to produce enough electricity from sunlight, available on Jupiter. And the modest nuclear energy sources that are available to civilian space agencies has been largely involved in missions to Mars. Due to a powerful magnetic field , acting as a giant particle accelerator , Jupiter creates an extremely dangerous radiation environment on the surface of Europa . Its enough to make a man in a suit is a few hours received a lethal dose of radiation. Even automatic orbiter or lander should have strong protection from radiation, and it is extremely expensive.
There is also the question of how to overcome the ice cap in Europe. It is possible that such sites will be able to find where abnormally thin crust of ice . In this case, using a mechanical drill or melting apparatus for nuclear energy can make a hole in the ice and pull back submersible . But the cost of such an operation would be fantastic . Imagine how difficult and expensive to put the rig deep sea drilling is not somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico , but on another planet . In earlier times, when funding was more generous , NASA gave this assessment : even a simple artificial satellite in Europe, not to mention digging tunnels landers and radioactive kriorobotah will cost nearly five billion dollars. However, later there were other estimates - that naked artificial satellite in Europe can cost about two billion dollars.But the closer we study Europe, the more we realize that its difficulties may give us a less expensive and quicker way to the knowledge of its ocean. Late last year, a group of researchers at the Space Telescope "Hubble" discovered clubs steam coming in Europe 's south pole to a height of about 200 kilometers. They were thrown into space about 700 pounds of water per second . These plumes of steam arose at a time when Europe was at a maximum distance of its orbit . This fact suggests that they actuate a crack in the crust , which open and close cycles , when Europe is bent under the influence of drawing energy of Jupiter.It is not clear whether these jets of steam from the subglacial ocean itself , or they go out of the small size of a sea or lake water reservoirs located closer to the surface . But it definitely can say the following : everything that is thrown up with water , carries impurities resulting from physical, chemical, and possibly biological processes taking place in the depths of Europe. Fly on a spaceship through a vapor trail , and who knows - maybe you will catch the frozen fish from the ocean depths .Currently funded by only one mission that can perform such a task . This is an automatic interplanetary station of the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, which is planned to send into space in 2022. The orbit of Jupiter , it will arrive in 2030. However, Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer will not fly around Europe , and for its entire three- orbital flight it can meet only twice this moon . This may not be enough to take samples of steam plumes arising temporarily . At the insistence of the U.S. Congress and the Obama administration today , NASA is exploring opportunities to commit their own flight to Europe. However, those politicians who call the U.S. space agency to pay attention to Europe, do not give him this freedom for such action. Squabbling over the budget led to estimates that NASA's flight program to Europe was reduced to less than one billion dollars. According to previous estimates , less than half the cost of a bare artificial satellite in Europe, which can cost about two billion dollars.Meanwhile , Mars attracts its proximity , and we listen to these calls as inviting the students who know the outside world , having spent the night in a tent in the backyard. Probably nothing you can do about it. Besides the issues of time, energy and money to make a study of Europe unavailable, there is also the problem of human psychology.Even if Mars is absolutely and irrevocably dead, we can still see his reddish disk in the night sky and imagine that it is waiting for a better future. Someday people will be able to walk on it , and maybe even live there. But take a walk or to live in Europe does not dream of anybody. If Mars is a distorting mirror , peering in which we present ourselves researchers pleasantly familiar borders , Europe is a locked door , and possibly matt black lump , cold and indifferent is a bottomless pit that can ever reveal their secrets, unless we be able to convince themselves of the need to look at it .
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