ICY SCIENCE: SCIENCE SPACE ASTRONOMY Spring 2014 | Page 41

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mission to happen - which means convincing people that it deserves the funding. The money is there and frankly,
is being spent on some pretty inane things like government golf courses. We all need to make sure that the people
in our governments understand just how important these missions are to us. At least the wait will give astrobiologists extra time to ground their understanding of the types of environments that could be in these moons’ seas. In
a way, though, for the field of astrobiology it doesn’t matter that we can’t know yet if there is life in these moons.
We have found on another world the same chemistries that happen on Earth in places like Lost City, and whether
or not life is using these chemicals, or made them, or neither, we’ve still extended the known potential habitats
where life can potentially exist.
Words: Zantippy Skiphop

@ZantippySkiphop
ICY SCIENCE | QTR 2 SPRING 2014