Media are invited to attend a technical NASA workshop on Feb. 18, 2015, convened to consider strategies to investigate Europa’s plumes for evidence of life. The workshop will be held at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.
Experts participating in the workshop will be asked to provide feedback to NASA on the following key questions:
– What measurements are needed to detect and characterize the presence of life in an acquired sample?
– What instrumentation is needed to perform these measurements, and what is the current flight readiness of such instruments?
– What is the amount and nature of the sample needed by these instruments and what sample preparation is necessary?
– What constraints does the required nature of the sample place on the sample acquisition process?
– What challenges are present to acquiring the necessary sample and obtaining life-detection measurements from a cubesat(s) deployed by a Europa mission?
NASA’s Planetary Science Division is convening the workshop, and it is being co-hosted by the Ames-based NASA Astrobiology Institute and Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute.
Media who wish to attend should register on the event website, listing the media organization represented in the “Organization: Other” field. To register, visit:
https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/calendar/europa-plume-workshop/workshop-europa-plume-registration/
For more information about the workshop, visit:
https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/calendar/europa-plume-workshop/
