AST 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Biosignature, Allen Telescope Array, Coronagraph
6 Jun 2020
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Document Summary
European space agency"s exomars mission (2015) will drill below surface to extract samples from depths where life is more likely to be preserved. Jupiter"s moon europa has an ice covered surface. It is thought that there may be global ocean several kilometers below the ice. This ocean may be a possible location for life. Ultimately it may be possible to build probes that would descend through the ice and explore the oceans of europa. Current studies concentrate on trying to confirm the existence of the ocean and determine the ice thickness. Over the last 12 years, more than 300 planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than the sun. Habitable planets are those that have suitable conditions on their surface for liquid water to exist. They are likely to be found in a region called the habitable zone where the distance from the star is appropriate. In our solar system, mars is too cold and venus is too hot.
