Nasa is hoping to launch a mission to the Jupiter planet Europa at some point in the next decade.
It is a significant development in space travel because it is believed that there is water on this moon.
For there to be life beyond Earth, water needs to be present, so it will be really interesting to see what sorts of results scientists can find.
There will be some issues for the boffins at Nasa though, mainly in the fact that Jupiter’s gravity is so strong on account of how big the planet is. There are also concerns about radiation from the planet, meaning it will cause a huge challenge in terms of how to safely get a probe to land on the moon.
But the human spirit is never as prevalent as when we are faced with a challenge.
The aim is to get a flyby mission launched in 2022 to get a closer look at the moon, before landing a device on the moon a few years later.
I’ve always thought that there must be some form of life beyond our own little planet. The universe is surely too big for Earth to be the only place where there is life.
Apparently there is the possibility that there are lots of moons with water on – and that is just within our own solar system. If this is true, then there may be loads of planets and moons with life on them.
I used to always love programmes like Stargate, which was about interplanetary travel to other worlds and meeting new people from strange new worlds.
With a bit of luck, we are hopefully beginning the journey to meeting life off Earth.
I can’t wait to see what sort of data is produced by the instruments that will hopefully fly past and land on Europa.