NASA to reveal new discoveries on oceans beyond Earth

Washington April 11 (IANS) NASA is set to reveal this week at a news conference new results about ocean worlds in our solar system.

The announcements will be related particularly to findings from the agency s Saturn probe Cassini spacecraft and the Hubble space telescope NASA said in a statement.

These new discoveries will also help inform future ocean world exploration -- including NASA s upcoming Europa Clipper mission planned for launch in the 2020s -- and the broader search for life beyond the Earth.

The event to be held at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington on Thursday at 2 p.m. EDT (11.30 p.m. India time) will include remote participation from experts across the US.

NASA s Cassini spacecraft which was launched in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in 2004 is set to end its 20-year journey on September 15 this year with a planned plunge.

The agency s planned Europa Clipper would place a spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter in order to perform a detailed investigation of the giant planet s moon Europa -- a world that shows strong evidence for an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust and which could host conditions favourable for life.

--IANS
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