NASA's Mission to Europa: Exploring a Potentially Habitable World

Exploring Space Lectures
Presenter: Robert Pappalardo, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jupiter's moon Europa may have an internal ocean of liquid water, plus the chemistry and energy life needs to exist. Robert Pappalardo, Europa Mission project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will discuss NASA’s plans to send a robotic mission to evaluate Europa’s potential for life and address one of humanity’s most fundamental questions: Are we alone in the universe?
The Exploring Space lectures are made possible by the generous support of Aerojet Rocketdyne and United Launch Alliance.

[@wootle]

Amazing presentation thanks so much for uploading these. Hope to see Mr. Pappalardo more!

[@ultrametric9317]

What a wonderful talk! Thanks for posting!!!

[@muskyelondragon]

Mr. Pappalardo gives an excellent presentation and this will be an awesome mission.

[@sfden50]

I wish I were 1/2 as smart as Mr. Pappalardo. He's really something. :)

[@davidlawrence3932]

Fascinating presentation. That man deserves a raise for how educating and simplifying the information he gave. Superb job

[@MyKharli]

I really like Robert Pappalardo presentations.

[@huckleberry6650]

Thank you very much!

[@quatermass8]

Informative. Now we must get on with it!

[@Super-J10]

Thank you for posting......great information !! I can't wait to see what we find

[@colineckstrand271]

Excellent, is exciting to contemplate!

[@lucasoncin8602]

F*ck. I'm so excited. I really can't wait.

[@JetPackDino]

The audio for this presentation is maddening. Until we can master the basics of microphone placement I don't think we're going anywhere.

[@Rick-the-Swift]

JetPackDino, the astronaut Guss Grisom said "If we can't even communicate between two rooms in the same building, how are we going to communicate between the earth and the moon?" He said that right before he was burned to death inside the test capsule.

[@5Andysalive]

But humanity still has somewhat more xperience with giving lectures to audience via microphones and speakers than with manned spaceflight. You's think they could check beforehand.

[@joshcharlottesville]

hahahahahaha... that's great.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

What do you expect from public servants ? I'm amazed he doesn't have blue hair and screaming Jupiter to be a racist.

[@longgroove]

@@RemusKingOfRome wrong place wrong time.

[@MelliaBoomBot]

Great stuff.:) thanks

[@speedball1919]

The guy is awesome

[@atlanta1290]

great presentation. I enjoyed it.

[@manumanu4737]

Sir Excellent presentation

[@JuliawanWijaya]

I am curiosity about this so I am subscribed at this channels .. and I am interesting about space :D

[@calais321]

Juliawan Wijaya I am curiosity about these aswell! I am subscribing to many too as expert let discusses these video together?

[@sheenaalexis8710]

@@calais321 lol

[@vyacheslav_zp]

Хороший доклад. Спасибо.

[@proaudiohd]

Very fascinating topic and well presented. Huge bummer on the audio though. Maybe a re-do/update after the pandemic here?

[@juniper9836]

I get back from studying and this is what i come to. n i c e

[@flugschulerfluglehrer7139]

Obviously it is also induction heated. They are always talking about tidal heating but never about induction heating. But if there is an induced magnetic field, there has to be an electric current in Europa, wich would of course heat up the moon.

[@S....]

Flugschüler Fluglehrer Why?

[@flugschulerfluglehrer7139]

Dupy If you move a conductor in a magnetic field, a electric current is induced. If there is no circuit to use the energy of this current, it is transformed into heat. This is called induction heating.

[@arturskimelis527]

Please don't laugh at my question, but could you theoretically harness that energy if you had a base on the surface?

[@flugschulerfluglehrer7139]

Hello Artūrs Ķimelis! This is actually the core of the question. If there is inductive heating you could, of course, harness this energy. But keep in mind, even though the magnetic field of Jupiter is very strong and even though the relative speed of Europa to Jupiter is very high, you still would need a huge inductive device to harness a notable amount of energy. I think it would be worth wile to do the maths - but not tonight.

[@jakejakeboom]

Haven't done the math, but I'm pretty sure the tidal heating dwarfs any induction heating (like by several orders of magnitude).

[@kevinclayton1656]

amazing picture

[@Kevin_Kennelly]

Hey Smithsonian. Have any of you listened to the audio on this excellent lecture? Have you heard the 'muffled sound' that comes and goes almost every time the speaker moves? Sorry to nit pick....but this problem is solved in 'How to Hookup A Microphone: 101'. Again...the lecture is excellent and I really enjoyed it. The poor audio quality is distracting.

[@vincinogstar6130]

Kevin Kennelly You're an extremely sensitive individual, seek help , it's available.

[@patrickgilbert4735]

You know what Kevin, I have the same complaint. I watched a different video that I believe was recorded by the same Smithsonian crew, excellent content but nearly inaudible. Perhaps we are going deaf? There is help for that, apparently.

[@ableadelaide5893]

Could't agree more, the poor audio quality renders this lecture painful to listen to. Ironic how the lecture deals with scientific endeavor at the highest possible level, yet something as basic as audio quality is a total fail!

[@5Andysalive]

he's right. There is no excuse for that. Literally billions of lectures have been given to audiences via microphones and speakers it REALLY is not "nitpicky" to complain about such really bad audio.

[@joedart1465]

Ironic that Smithsonian loosely translates into a sound smith.

[@jordangreene8325]

Endlessly interesting topic, brutal, brutal presentation.

[@calais321]

Jordan Greene fucking lefty piece of shit.

[@NikolaosSkordilis]

Very interesting lecture! It is very sad, though, that in most of these lectures the people who ask questions are either not heard at all or are barely heard. In this lecture I don't think I heard a single word of their questions, and had to infer them from the answers. Is it so difficult to move around a microphone?

[@garpikemike1]

These ppl are space nerds not audio nerds.

[@5Andysalive]

Seriously in several Smihsonian lectures with years between them the audio is (partially) horrible. Don't they test that before an event?

[@tonypoore440]

I think we will make some amazing discoveries on Europa. Titan is another moon worth sending robotic probes to.

[@PENDANTturnips]

48:30 lol his voice becomes robotic right after talking about star trek

[@tylerv.g.6268]

I'm not afraid to indulge on the idea that life may exist in the inner liquid oceans of Europa, many of the negative comments dont see our own human bias. Many think life could only exist in atmospheric/solar life giving planets like ours when they could easily exist in exothermic (heat from within) planets so long as the temperature and chemical composition are correct. For the little we know about the universe , life(while probably not intelligent) may be very well be persistent when certain conditions are met.

[@sadpepe7937]

Extremophiles show us what's possible. As long as water is liquid, there could be life.

[@taraswertelecki7874]

Liquid water is a key requirement for life, but organic molecules and a source of energy are also needed.

[@Sokail87]

My name is Bruce Campbell and this is my boomstick!

[@zapfanzapfan]

It launches this fall on a Falcon Heavy and JUICE is already on the way. The Jupiter system will get tag teamed in a few years.

[@shodfalife]

WOW

[@pantiespending]

Yo this is so cool.

[@pantiespending]

But what do they use to do the reflection test? What kind tools do they do this and how far away? Like how...

[@pantiespending]

390 million miles away brother? How on earth is this even possible to do easily?

[@dand579]

At about 44 minutes in, the presenter mentions the possibility of launching on Falcon Heavy. In 2016. Interesting.

[@izenheimreborn6390]

To quote Markiplier: Oh that’s so cooool!

[@SafirJamil]

That Galileo mission was plagued from the start. The Challenger tragedy delayed the launch for years and then the antennae not opening. Their transmission speeds were lower than my Internet back then. They had to sacrifice so much data for the communication issue.

[@rene3339]

If Europa's surface is made of some crust of ice, then we can assume a surface "layer" made of amorphous ice. The deeper we go, the ice will be more and more crystallized. Crystal shapes could be from amorphous, to cubic, etc. Also the density of the ice could be affected. This clear presentation shows some impressive pictures, a rough surface most likely affected by the tide. Can't wait to see the results of the next mission hoping the big blaster will be used to save some 3 years of travel to Europa.

[@gabrielcroft4217]

Just wanted to know, who took the video picture on Cassini satellites during the Europa flyby I'm curious please let me know.

[@gabrielcroft4217]

@Fred Cink Ha ha ha ha ha another funny crap stupid fellow I've got a reply on utube comments 😀😀😀😀 you make me laugh!!😃😃😂😂😂🤧🤧🤧😷😷

[@CIBERXGAMING]

Could that red stuff on the surface be rust, perhaps? If it is rust (iron oxide) that would mean the water is oxygen rich, which would be a very good thing.

[@S....]

Ciber AV No, it is not.

[@speakerwild1189]

Ciber AV don't quote me on this but it's most likely just Jupiter's colors reflecting off of its icy surface. One thing however that is known is that the powdery white stuff is made up of salt most likely that has evaporated and massed to the surface, suggesting further evidence that there is a liquid ocean underneath Europa.

[@davidcallinicos1976]

It's possibly sulphur from Io

[@Rick-the-Swift]

"Could that red stuff on the surface be rust, perhaps?" Don't laugh, but could it be blood? Maybe the ocean beneath is just chalked full of predators constantly eating each other. Or perhaps the planet has a minstrel cycle that scientists aren't yet aware of...

[@sheenaalexis8710]

@@Rick-the-Swift humans aren't there. It's not blood.

[@cernunnos_lives]

If there is no life there ...then all bets are off. We plant it there. Earth life needs to survive beyond our planet.

[@garpikemike1]

Great idea...maybe we can leave you there so we can have some peace and quiet!

[@public.public]

yes. destroying our planet to get to Europa is a great idea... errr

[@sheenaalexis8710]

@@public.public and then humans getting to go destroy another one..

[@comingoutofhibernation2122]

@@public.public What gave you the mistaken idea that your comment made sense? How do you imagine going to Europa would destroy our planet?

[@homermcclain7694]

Settle down near the equator

[@sharonshort4265]

The question and answer portion was badly handled as far as the sound quality goes.

[@kylesundell1554]

I'm thinking maybe a radioactive or a nuclear heated ball to burn through the ice,sure white phosphorus isn't a good idea.

[@faustorota7890]

Would a metal/magnetic shpere on the surface of Europa, get heated by magnet field of Jupiter ? Heated enough to penetrate the ice through by melting it through and precipitate to the rocky surface ? ..

[@paulmerritt8593]

Who is that man who chimes in at 1:05? What committee is he on?

[@111bill000]

Bruce Campbell!

[@robdela3632]

Why only 5 Ganymede fly bys. Ganymede seems so much more promising having an active core and magnetic field.

[@BETTERWORLDSGT]

Europa must be quite Cold!

[@homermcclain7694]

Home sweet home on the ice ball.

[@harrywissink842]

Why doesn’t anyone step up and places the tiemic in front of the tie?

[@kevinclayton1656]

I dont understand why we arnt putting a life analyser on the clipper mission.when it flys though the plums it be a perfect way to find life there.or the signature of life

[@EASYTIGER10]

Europa reminds me of a cue ball that someone threw out and it got all scratched up and the scratches got all dirty.

[@lawrenceiverson1924]

Is Mr. Pappalardo an old hippy ???? I betcha yes !!!

[@MarkMastrocinque]

Didn't you see 2010?? We're not supposed to go to Europa.

[@ferrreira]

ALL THESE WORLD ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA

[@m0onm0th]

ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE

[@markcrowder4385]

Mark Mastrocinque is

[@lipingrahman6648]

USE THEM TOGETHER, USE THEM IN PEACE

[@davidswift9120]

Great presentation . Shame that there wasn't a microphone for the folks asking questions at the end.

[@Biggus_Diggus1]

Bob Poppalardo. My grankids call me pappa lardo.

[@offlt24]

I wonder if there are some type of tardigrades on this planet since these microorganisms can live in the most extreme chemical environments including hard ice. If there is liquid , to me that is just a start.

[@speakerwild1189]

offlt24 tardigrade wouldn't be the proper terminology for them. It woild be more like extremophile.

[@thenamesberly]

😂 yay for bendy frozen water!

[@nelsonianb1289]

Wow Bruce Campbell came a long way from the the Evil Dead!

[@davidlawrence3932]

First thought exactly myself... groooooovy

[@kelvyquayo]

Just give me my sub, 2 coilgun turrets and a good crew. I’m ready

[@mitropoulosilias]

can i have a link of NASA for rhe missions on EUROPA or other Zeus moons missions?

[@Jordan-vr7ip]

We need to get Europa ASAP! It must have life there think about it. An ocean that has twice as much water than on earth that's been sitting there for at least a billion years. It's been tidally heated and has some volcanic activity which means that beneath the surface there could hydro thermal vents in the ocean, which we know from earth that amazingly are abundant with life.

[@Wesley-td3he]

Arthur C Clarke has been saying it since the early 80s. There is life in Europa!

[@calais321]

Wesley Tremblay yes I agree we know there's life I'm certain nasa is just trying to catch up to us we know what is really happening up down there

[@joedart1465]

Unfortunately there's no longer life in Arthur C. Clark.

[@cjcares7815]

Hey, we have atmosphere here, so we have sound! Can't stand this clicking!

[@Pawl1957]

I think Enceleadus is a better bet for finding water and life.

[@garpikemike1]

Yeah..I had some of those in Mexico..gave me the runs ! I should have had burritos instead.

[@mynicknametaken]

i wonder what kind of pressure is under 10, 20km of ice, and then under 20km of ice and 80km of water?

[@Jinn99]

mynicknametaken I actually tweeted Dr. Pappalardo this question. He responded with, "Europa gravity is about 1/7 Earth's, so 20 km ice there is like under 3 km ice here. Earth vessels have dived to 7 km, no prob."

[@S....]

Now that is an excellent wuestion and an awesome answer, thank you both :)

[@barriewright2857]

O God please let me live long enough to see this ! . A probe or lander on the water planet YES....! . So we can get a final conclusion ARE WE THE ONLY LIVING THING....! , If it happens then we are alone, being the only living thing in the universe would be seriously boring and wrong ! . The room audio really needs improvement or you need a better sound engineer. Thanks great work and show more please.

[@adzz8012]

Leaving October 2024. Well thats the plan. Hope your still around for another few years till it gets there mate :)

[@garpikemike1]

You just wanna say the word "plume" as many times as possible.

[@burrbentine]

Wtf is that knocking in the audio? It's driving me nuts

[@gabrielcroft4217]

They said Enceladus spews it's water into space, this activity continuing million of years, if water continuously escaped into space, then how comes such a small moon still have these waters to spews without running dry , I don't believe that these waters escaped into space, in my opinion these waters came raining down to the surface again and again in the form of snow and ice particles. If not so, Enceladus would be no more a million years ago.amazing huh!!! thanks alot.

[@nilswestman4013]

I think so too. Even if the water goes far away the gravity will take it back. The question of possible life should be bigger on Europa who is 4 billion years old. Enceladus only about 100 million years.

[@robdela3632]

@@nilswestman4013 what about Ganymede just as old with an active core and magnetic field. Surprised they're only doing 5 fly bys there. Is Ganymede ice too thick?

[@ijamsum]

The magnetic field would be strong if tidal forces create friction with ferrous metal atoms and electricity would flow and enforce or create the field !

[@garpikemike1]

Yeah but how come I can't get AAA batteries to fit in my AA battery slots on my controller?

[@skkk352]

its mid-2020 now ....

[@brandy3198]

Here's a theory I have about where all our water here on Earth came from, I thought about it since the theory that our water was deposited by asteroids within which were contained water drops inside of salt crystals. This theory bothers me for one reason only and that is where is all the salt, there should be more salt than water for this theory to make sense. So what if Thea was a water world similar to Europa instead of another rocky planet? Then its collision with Earth would have deposited water, water ice, and the rocky core, while the rocky core punched its way through Earths outer layer and sent trillions of tons of debris into orbit around Earth to later congeal to become our moon the water and ice would have cooled Earths cust rapidly causing the crust to fracture and thus giving us what we now call tectonic plates as well as oceans. This would also help explain the data from rock samples from the east coast of Hudsons Bay, Quebec, Canada. Where they found the oldest known rocks on Earth and that these rocks were formed underwater. Sometimes the simplest answers are the best.

[@Paul-tt1oi]

I bet there is atlantis.

[@gabrielcroft4217]

Maybe Europa is an outside-in kind of, world , hollow inside with landscape warm pleasant climate plenty of living creatures and the icy crust is only the dome and atmosphere of the inside world of Europa Maybe this was true.cassini and time will tell .

[@ijamsum]

Near Jupiter the radiation received is 20,000,000 million Rads but on Earth the back ground radiation is .39 rads Enough ice too shield any lifeforms from damage is unknown , no space craft has endured that much radiation intensity !

[@garpikemike1]

How do u know? And if so..why are meteorites that land here not extremely radioactive? They must have passed there? Shit...space craft have landed on meteors. U don't know shit.

[@stormysyndrome7043]

Ice? As in snow, Eskimos, and... ICE? Nope. Think I'll stay on the temperate blue ball a little while longer :) All kidding aside, cool video, it'll be interesting to learn a little more about this moon. Not sure it would be inhabitable by humans as many are suggesting it is a frozen water world. It might be inhabited by life that we would understand though.

[@EchoesDistant]

It's now May 24, 2022 (as of my posting this) and the Europa Clipper mission is currently scheduled for October 2024.

[@kevinclayton1656]

We need more politians like that congress man at the end.🤣🤣making it illegal for NASA to not do the Europa clipper🤣

[@madmichaelmathieu]

Interesting comment Robert Pappalardo, from JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) makes when he says, "Photoshop is our best friend." VERY Interesting...😯😲

[@russellszabadosaka5-pindin849]

Mike Mathieu yes, photoshop is their best friend for making fine details inherent in raw data easier to view and quantify. If you’re implying some kind of dastardly ulterior motive brought to light by a Freudian slip, perhaps that implies that YOUR worldview & intentions are suspect and “VERY interesting...”

[@sheenaalexis8710]

@@russellszabadosaka5-pindin849 wow..did he strike a nerve there Russell? That was a bit of an overreaction if I've ever seen one lol

[@TWOCOWS1]

colder ice does NOT sink, because it is lighter than the warmer ice. it rises. amazing how the dude forgets this: frozen water gets lighter as it gets colder. that is why ice floats on water too. no other compound does that. so this theory of him needs rethinking because of the laws of physicss in respect to water/ice. AND not a single mention of sulfur--orange brown in color (like the streaks on Europa), super abandoned in Io next door, and the source of life energy at the "smokestacks" at the bottom of earth's oceans

[@littlebigcomrade]

My theory about extraterrestrial life is that they do not use DNA/RNA like Earthlings do; I also think water is not required for life because maybe life on other worlds relied on a different substance (methane, nitrogen, sulfur, etc.) in order to prosper.

[@Salten96]

The only bigger discovery than finding life on Europa is finding life on Europa and find out we are descended from those creatures

[@tylerv.g.6268]

Yes! It will give us the idea of whether life develops on its own or if it gets a starter package from the cosmos!

[@johnjaw19]

Or that life is descended from Earth?

[@mrstanlez]

I always hear only about models, hypothesis etc. Nobody know what is behind a wall. So no one know what is on Earth below surface in 100 km. All what we have is models. And thats facts.

[@ferrreira]

Have you ever heard about radar?

[@wizzardofpaws2420]

Europa is closer to the Sun so it would make sense

[@public.public]

Is there life in the middle class? It acts like a very slow dysfunctional artificial intelligence.

[@katielyb]

Do these lectures really have to be so long?

[@deusdat]

Wasted money. Life is most certainly a one-time event. Be happy you exist. There's no one elsewhere.

[@maxv9464]

Most certainly according to who? Learning is always worth it.

[@novprezime8640]

Enough with the shuffling ffs

[@lampanish]

Why on Earth ..sorry ..why dont NASA include the lander in this mission, considering the huge costs involved in getting the craft there..just doesn't seems to make any logic !!

[@OzearEimaj]

Adding a lander would further complicate the mission, increasing the huge costs even further

[@thomasschwarz1973]

50:50 "different life"... ...what is life? Is it just DNA/RNA life? What is that life evolved? Of course it did.... somewhere.... evolve. So lets say that life is anything that replicates, ok? Well, my dear friend, stars not only replicate, but in their super nova process, they created everything that is in our solar system which evolved into DNA life. So why is the sun not your extra terrestrial life?

[@pro-self-offense3823]

Yet we land on titan?........😑🙄😞

[@matthewkashnig3061]

Shrimp squirt n seamonkey juice all over dem cracks Mon, go there !

[@edkaczmarczyk104]

F

[@mrtomdorn]

Job security dreamers.

[@joedart1465]

It is ironic that Smithsonian loosely translates into a sound smith.

[@jamiew9354]

Show me the math.

[@fayzemourie7776]

THE HUMAN FISH

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

Lol.

[@twstf8905]

Wow, not a ton of charisma in these Scientist speakers lol is there?! 😅 This must be what C-Span watches to try getting to sleep.😴💤 _(I'm just kidding...)_ (ba dum dum PSSSSH 🥁) But seriously. Awesome topic! I suppose you don't really need a loud-mouthed, flashy salesman when whatever you're offering is so interesting all on its own lol do you?! 😇✌

[@askyourself402]

shity audio chow after 10min is very bad