The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has long had its sights on Europa, one of the larger moons of Jupiter, for a potential space probe destination ever since the Galileo mission found evidence of water on the natural satellite in 1995.
The space agency's interest in the ice-covered moon rose especially when the Hubble Space Telescope was able to capture images of water vapor plumes coming from Europa's surface.
Now, researchers at NASA could finally get their chance to explore Europa as the agency decided to push through with its plan to send a new mission probe to the icy world.
"Today we're taking an exciting step from concept to mission, in our quest to find signs of life beyond Earth," John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for its Science Mission Directorate said.
"Observations of Europa have provided us with tantalizing clues over the last two decades, and the time has come to seek answers to one of humanity's most profound questions."
Europa project manager Barry Goldstein of the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained that the new probe will help scientists find out whether or not Europa is capable of sustaining life.
He said that the plans for the Europa mission took a big leap Wednesday as the agency announced that preparations have reached the "formulation phase."
Goldstein pointed out that the formulation phase is when they move forward with developing the design and requirements of the mission in order to ensure that they are looking for the correct answers to science questions.
NASA has included $30 million to its budget for 2016 to plan the Europa project. Goldstein, however, said that there are still more things to work on before the space agency approves the creation of the hardware and software needed for the space mission.
If the Europa mission does receive its final approval, the space probe would likely be launched in the 2020s.
NASA believes the spacecraft would then take several years before it reaches the Jupiter system and orbit the massive planet. This would allow the probe to fly close to Europa to gather information.
"It's a great day for science," Europa program executive Joan Salute said.
"We are thrilled to pass the first major milestone in the lifecycle of a mission that will ultimately inform us on the habitability of Europa."
