This is a John Bachelor conversation with Charles Pelagrino, author of Darwin's

universe. The story of Europa is untold. There are clues that something under that ice is a fascination. Hence the

launching of Europa Clipper. It will reach the orbit of Jupiter in 2030 and

have many passes four and a half years perhaps of passes over

Europa under the ice is something important and Charlie very much outlines what could be there.

The reason we'll have access is because the planet itself vents through the cracks in the ice on the surface.

Vents, water vapor, and that's to be determined.

Here's Charles Pellegrino, author of Darwin's universe to explain the search for something under the ice in Europa.

Much more of this later.

Well they've already detected water coming to the surface and erupting into space and it erupts into

vacuum and becomes a snowstorm in space. So one of the things that Europa Clipper will be looking at is what's in that snow.

Up in the sky spectroscopy and also on the ground, the snow that falls back to the ground.

Already with the telescopes we have, we have detected some organic compounds on and around Europa.

This will be taking a much closer look and might even be able to see signs of what kind of chemical activity we're looking at that's being erupted out from down below and are there signs of something like bacteria that have produced certain chemical signatures.

The answer... I think the odds are reasonably good.