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Scientists step up search for extraterrestrial life.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
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Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
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April 15, 1997
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 1997 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The search for extraterrestrial life in the solar system is becoming the gold rush of our time.
Even before NASA last week made the bombshell announcement of a possible life-bearing ocean on the distant Jovian moon Europa, plots were being hatched to scoop up samples of this icy body and sift it for clues to life past or present.
One plan on the drawing boards is to hurl a baseball-sized projectile at Europa's surface to kick up a spray of ice, then collect a bit of the debris in a sort of flypaper net.
No other body in the solar system, except of course for Earth, has shown evidence of liquid water. Life as we know it, carbon-based life, requires this, ...