Nasa is planning to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to determine whether three of Jupiter's planet-sized moons have the potential to harbour life. The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, or Jimo, will circle the moons Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, which are believed to have vast oceans tucked beneath thick covers of ice. The unmanned craft, far larger and more powerful than any other sent to explore the outer solar system, will spend years studying the moons' make up, geologic history and potential for sustaining life, as well as Jupiter itself. Besides water, the moons appear to contain two other ingredients necessary for life: energy and the right chemicals. Along with Mars, they are considered the most likely places to have extraterrestrial life within our solar system. "We don't know if life is there. But this mission will allow to ask that question with some pretty sound tools," said Christopher McKay of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Centre.Jimo will not be launched until at least 2011 and will be the first in a series of robotic Nasa probes that rely on uranium-fuelled fission reactors to generate large amounts of electricity.While probes such as Galileo and Cassini have made do with hundreds of watts of electricity, Jimo might have thousands of watts to power its thrusters and instruments, said Torrence Johnson of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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