SUNNYVALE, CALIF, Aug 26, Reuter: A space biologist involved in a study of life in the universe said on Friday he believed organic compounds, a life form, would be found on Europa, a moon of the planet Jupiter.
“I will bet my money we will find organic compounds there,” Dr. John Oro, an exobiology of the University of Houston told a news conference arranged by the National Aeronautics and space administration.
The spacecraft will be launched by Nasa in the autumn of 1989 and is excited to reach Europa in the mid 1990’s.
Exobiologists, who study the beginning of life, and scientists who plan NASA’s space missions have been discussing the beginning of life at the NASA Ames Research laboratory near Sunnyvale.
Europa is thought by Exobiologists to be covered by a layer of ice several miles thick. Some Exobiologists believe that because cracks in the ice would allow in light, life might exist or might have once existed under the ice.
“We are the first people in history who may be able to answer the question of how life began because we are the first people not bound to earth,” Lynn Griffiths a sangat nasa headquarters in Houston, said.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 2, 1988
