NASA could soon be sending a mission to Europa, the moon orbiting Jupiter that contains more water than Earth and that scientists speculate may support life.
The trip would be a daring mission to an extremely compelling object in our solar system," Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute astronomer Laurie Leshin told The Associated Press.
NASA has allocated $15 million in its proposed budget for next year to develop the robotic mission, which could launch in the mid 2020s, NASA chief financial officer Elizabeth Robinson told the AP.
If it launches in 2025, the mission would likely reach Europa by 2030, iO9 reported. The moon is covered with a subsurface ocean that holds nearly two times the amount of water found on Earth, and it stays in a constant liquid state, according to iO9.
Sending a mission to icy Europa would be even more of a thrill than more exploration of Mars due to the moon's intriguing sea, said Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb.
"There might be fish under the ice," she told the AP.
NASA has been working to launch more space missions, but the plan could be axed if government funding is cut again, Joel Achenbach noted on The Washington Post blog.
The space agency's plans often go awry when the political climate shifts, he said.
"For a number of years NASA has developed various programs and missions that did not survive the erosional forces of constricting budgets and strategic changes," Achenbach wrote.
"The agency has a dilemma: It takes at least a decade to do anything significant in space, but our political cycle is faster than that."
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