Charles Elachi: “Jupiter's moon and two moons of Saturn are ideal locations. How are we going to investigate them?"
The NASA space agency is preparing missions that we could read about in science fiction. Narrated by Charles Elachi, godfather of the Cassini mission, who discovered oceans of water under the ice.
I asked Charles Elachi when we would meet the aliens, and he told me the places and times. He immediately added that we were lucky, and most importantly, lucky young people, because "we live in the golden age of space exploration."
Elachi is the Wernher von Braun of interplanetary missions. Former director of a sci-fi space at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Elachi is the father of two space travel symbols renowned for their amazing portrayal of other worlds: the Curiosity rover. and the Cassini probe, which was used to explore Saturn and its diverse collection of moons.
As Elachi, who is in Rome for a visit to the Italian Space Agency and La Sapienza University, explains, the locations in question are the moons of the solar system: Titan, Enceladus and Europa. Time is around 2020.
La Stampa: Professor, is alien life closer to us than we think? This is true?
Charles Elachi: In fact, the Cassini probe has had an incredible effect on our consciousness. We discovered that Titan, one of Saturn's moons, is washed by rains, there are rivers and lakes on it, similar to those on Earth. The difference is that they are hydrocarbon. Thus, a key question was born: is there any form of life, similar to the one that we know on our planet, or different from it? This question is relevant for another moon - Enceladus.
What surprises does it hold?
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- It has geysers gushing from the underground ocean, and they are mostly water. And so we wonder again if there is anything in this sea. Enceladus is another example of how the Cassini charmed everyone.
There is one more equally charming satellite, this time it is the satellite of Jupiter called Europa: there is also an ocean under the ice. Could there be alien beings there too?
- We believe that there is a huge ocean of water that resembles the one we drink on Earth. There are also indications of the possible presence of organic material. There life could really evolve.
How do you imagine it? Except for bacteria, fish and sea monsters?
“What's inspiring about any research is that you never know what you’ll find.
When will you find out her secrets from Europe?
“At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, we are preparing the Europa Clipper mission to explore Europe using radar. The mission will begin around 2020, and at the same time, the European Space Agency's Juicy mission will also start exploring it, and then two other satellites, Ganymede and Callisto. And in the long term, we expect to send a lander to Europe and perforate its surface to find out what is down there. We are also planning to send a series of probes that will collect soil samples from Mars and deliver them to Earth.
Will we find the Martians?
- We do not believe that there is life on Mars, rather, there are traces of life forms that existed about 3 billion years ago, when there were rivers of water on the planet.
What kind is this life?
- It is unlikely that we are talking about dinosaurs! Rather, about unicellular organisms.
“While we are looking for aliens, robots are flooding into space. Will there be more of them?
- Here in Rome, I spoke with students about the next 30 years of space exploration in the hope of inspiring them: I was about the same age as they are now when I started. At that time, we were happy if we managed to realize one mission every three or four years. Today we have 23 active probes, we conduct one or two missions a year, and six according to the program. The future opens up inspiring horizons, and Italy, thanks to the Italian Space Agency, plays a very important role in both space exploration and observation.
“Today remote sensing provides us with unexpected information about other potentially hospitable places. What is the probability of finding Earth clones?
- A key aspect of research is related precisely to the study of other solar systems, where there are planets similar to ours: thanks to the Kepler telescope - and this is no coincidence - we discovered that almost every star has planets in orbit.
Milner and Hawking, billionaire and space explorer, want to send several fleets of space nanoships to the Alpha Centauri star system. Do you think this is possible?
“Unfortunately, the stars are far enough away that Alpha Centauri, the closest, is four light years away. With the means at our disposal, we will reach it in 10 thousand years, which is why other technologies are being studied, from laser beams to solar sails. But even if we reach a fraction of the speed of light, it will still take us 100-200 years.
Do you think this is too long?
- No, if you think about the big cathedrals in Europe: it took a similar time frame to erect them. The beginning of these missions cannot be called irrational: it will be our legacy for future generations.
Returning to a shorter time frame: who will be the first to deliver a man to Mars? NASA or Elon Musk?
- I don't see it as a competition. Sending a crew to Mars is an undertaking requiring worldwide cooperation.
And the question of questions: will we find intelligent beings in the Universe?
“I don’t think we were visited by aliens, but, in my opinion, there is life in the universe. If the same laws of physics apply everywhere, there is no reason why life would only arise here. However, I do not know whether it is different or not, whether it is reasonable or not. And I don't know if anyone has ever tried to contact us.
Gabriele Beccaria
