Leslie Livesay, NASA govt: “We are getting closer to knowing if there is life beyond Earth” | Science | EUROtoday

Leslie Livesay is vice director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the analysis middle the place the biggest robotic area missions of the United States area company are designed. During her nearly 40 years of expertise at NASA, this mathematician and engineer has seen the potential of area probes develop since they had been timid Martian strollers, just like the Pathfinder from 1996, till Perseverance of 2018, the biggest and most refined exploration car for the crimson planet in historical past.

One of the primary goals of this scientist in her new place might be to oversee an much more tough job: bringing samples of this planet again to Earth earlier than its largest competitor achieves it: China, a rustic with which the United States can also be in dispute. and to the exploration of the Moon. In this dialog with EL PAÍS, throughout his current go to to Spain, Livesay evaluations what NASA’s massive unmanned area missions might be like; a few of them, important in order that astronauts can later attain the Moon and Mars.

Ask. What is the most important query concerning the universe?

Answer. For me it is: are we alone? Is there life some place else? We are getting nearer to with the ability to reply it and our know-how is healthier. We simply launched the mission Europa Clipper. It will not be particularly designed to seek for life, however we all know that on this moon of Jupiter there’s an ocean of salt water underneath the floor that’s twice the dimensions of all these on Earth, and that would assist life. So we go there to research if it has the suitable composition and construction, if all of the issues that we would wish for all times to exist are current.

P. Until not way back, the Europa satellite tv for pc was not a precedence within the seek for life. Now it has grow to be one of many largest candidates to host it; greater than Mars, for instance.

R. Yes it’s true. Although we now have simply collected a really attention-grabbing pattern on Mars and we’re wanting ahead to bringing it again with a brand new mission, the Mars Sample Return. In 2026 we are going to launch the area telescope Romanwhich can carry a coronagraph that can enable us to watch exoplanets immediately, as a result of we can block the sunshine arriving from their star. We’re placing collectively numerous items of the photo voltaic system puzzle, it is a good time for area analysis.

P. When will the Mars Sample Return?

R. We hope within the mid to late 2030s.

P. What different nice mission do you’ve gotten forward of you?

R. I’d say our participation within the Habitable Worlds Observatory, our subsequent huge astrophysics mission, which we’re doing with the Ballard Space Flight Center. [Será el primer telescopio desarrollado para buscar vida en planetas más allá del sistema solar]. On the opposite hand, Earth sciences are more and more vital. We are seeing the Earth change increasingly more quickly, as demonstrated, for instance, by the tornadoes that hit Florida not too long ago and which affected the launch of Clipper. It is time to check the planet higher, to make sure that politicians have all the data they should make choices.

P. The United States and its companions, together with Europe, are going to take astronauts to the Moon after 50 years. One of the goals is to check the satellite tv for pc’s sources: water and different minerals. It is one thing that China and India are additionally pursuing. Do you assume there’s a danger of the Moon changing into a lawless land of area exploration?

R. We are companions of India. Since the time of the Apollo missions we now have used robotic missions. There are numerous issues we are able to do with different nations on the Moon. And the Moon is undoubtedly our intermediate station to succeed in Mars, which is rather more tough.

P. What sorts of robots are we going to see in future missions to the Moon, Mars and different locations?

R. We want a robotic able to drilling by means of the ice and reaching the ocean of Europa, for instance. We are growing it. On Mars our capability has elevated tremendously: examine the primary car that arrived in 1997 with Mars 2020. It is wonderful. The evaluation capability is spectacular. The identical will occur with the robots which are despatched to the Moon and different locations, as a result of our purpose is for people to be uncovered as little as attainable. We have launched the primary helicopter on one other planet, Ingenuity. And we now have one thing related, Dragonflywhich we’re going to ship to Titan, Saturn’s Moon. Robotic missions have an infinite horizon forward, we would be the first to reach and we are going to lay the foundations for human exploration.

P. How do they anticipate to have the ability to drill by means of the ice?

R. The very first thing we now have to search out out is how thick the ice cowl is on Europe. Clipper It carries a radar that can enable us to check it and take into consideration the applied sciences we may use. We have been finding out how to do that for years and the reality is that we nonetheless would not have a transparent answer.

P. Why have you ever come to go to Spain?

R. This 12 months we now have renewed the settlement between NASA and Spain, a major milestone for the way forward for the Madrid Deep Space Network Station. We are celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. This station performs a vital position and helps communications with spacecraft exploring the far reaches of our photo voltaic system and past.

Recently, the Madrid station demonstrated its crucial significance when its six antennas had been utilized in a complicated array configuration. This allowed us to speak with the spacecraft Voyager 1 and make a historic replace of software program. For the primary time since launch, we needed to reprogram the ship to keep away from a defective reminiscence part. The success of this operation highlights the station’s important position in deep area exploration and its promising future in supporting NASA’s most bold missions.