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The data Europa Clipper collects will help scientists determine whether the icy moon really is the prime exobiology candidate they think that it may be.

They hoped the exobiology program “could serve as a neutral scientific counterpart to the hawkish satellite, missile, and manned-craft programs that formed the technological and economic core of the space program,” she wrote.

Frances Westall, director of the exobiology group at the French National Center for Scientific Research’s Center for Molecular Biophysics in Orléans, notes that forming the bases requires very specific conditions.

The scientists say some findings enter the realm of philosophy and exobiology – the study of extraterrestrial life.

Schulze-Makuch has published extensively on exobiology and extraterrestrial life both in the scientific literature and in writing for the general public; he’s the author of four popular books and two novels.