Exploring Jupiter's Moons: The Search for Life

Europe's Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) mission aims to help scientists understand which of Jupiter's moons possess the right elements to support life. JUICE will study Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede and the distant Callisto, both believed to possess oceans, and make two flybys of Europa. However, JUICE is not designed to detect life, nor its direct signatures. Scientists believe that life, if it exists, would be in the water, which is hard to access. JUICE will provide valuable measurements of these moons, but a mission that might provide the ultimate answer about life on Jupiter's moons may still be a "generation away."