Europa and Astrobiology Education Resources
Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, is a promising candidate in the search for life beyond Earth. Later this year, NASA’s Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch with one overarching mission: To determine if Europa, with its vast subsurface ocean, actually has conditions suitable for supporting life.
Over the years, TERC has created many different materials related to the search for life beyond Earth, including an entire Astrobiology curriculum, NASA Life on Earth … and Elsewhere? educator resource guide, and now, as part of the NSF-funded project UniVRsal Access, the Virtual Reality game Europa Prime.
![View of Europa assembled from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft](https://www.terc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/View_Of_Europa_image-300x197.jpg)
View of Europa assembled from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute)
![Scene of Europa’s surface with Jupiter in the sky from the STEM-based virtual reality game Europa Prime](https://www.terc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Scene-of-Europa-surface-300x197.jpg)
Scene of Europa’s surface with Jupiter in the sky from the STEM-based virtual reality game Europa Prime (EdGE at TERC and MXTreality)
SEEC-Related ResourcesHere is the set of Europa Prime educational activities and materials presented at the 2024 Space Exploration Educators Conference.
- Activity 1: Space Exploration Brainstorm
- Activity 2: Space Exploration Card Sorting
- Activity 3: How Does Life on Earth Inform Our Search?
- Activity 4: Design an Alien
Alien life form, the Minos, around hydrothermal vents potentially found in the subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
![A preliminary drawing by members of the UniVRsal Access co-design team showing colorful Minos, a cephalopod-like alien lifeform, swimming around hydrothermal vents in the subsurface ocean of Europa. Pairs with an image from the VR game developed as part of UniVRsal Access.](https://www.terc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Alien-life-form.jpg)
Initial design drawing by members of a neurodiverse co-design team (Daniel Lougen and Jamie Larsen, EdGE at TERC)
![Art from the VR game Europa Prime showing colorful Minos, a cephalopod-like alien lifeform, swimming around hydrothermal vents in the subsurface ocean of Europa. Pairs with an preliminary drawing by members of the UniVRsal Access co-design process.](https://www.terc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Alien-life-form2.jpg)
Art from the virtual reality game Europa Prime (EdGE at TERC and MXTreality)
Other Resources: NASA
- Europa Clipper: Exploring Jupiter’s Icy Moon: Exploring Jupiter’s Icy Moon, everything from the latest on the mission to why Europa is important for our search for life
- Europa Clipper Poster
- Ocean Worlds: The Search for Life video
- Scientist for a Day Option 3: Europa video
- Astrobiology at NASA: Life in the Universe, NASA’s astrobiology learning materials site
- Astrobiology in Missions: A NASA link to information on Astrobiology probes past, present, future
- Astrobiology Education Poster (Life: What is it? Where is it? How do we find it?) with supportive reading and activities
- Astrobiology: The NASA Graphic History Series, graphic novels about many facets of astrobiology
- Astrobiology in Your Classroom: Life on Earth… and elsewhere? Educator Resource Guide
- 5000 Exoplanets: Listen to the Sounds of Discovery, a NASA data sonification video tracking the discovery of planets beyond our solar system
Other Resources: NOAA
- Student Investigation: Bioluminescence – An Adaptation for Deep-sea Survival
- Hydrothermal Vents: Fact Sheet
- Deep Ocean Education Project, offering a variety of images and links to the exploration of the deep ocean
- Ocean Today: Life on a Vent
- Ocean Exploration: Education Theme: Vents and Volcanoes
Other Resources
- Hydrothermal Vents: Woods Hole Hydrothermal Vent Interactives
- Nautilus Live: Ocean education resources from activities to videos
- Alien Oceans (book; purchase required)
- Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space video by Kevin Hand
- If the Moon were Only 1 Pixel, a tediously accurate scale model of the solar system
Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, is a promising candidate in the search for life beyond Earth. Later this year, NASA’s Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch with one overarching mission: To determine if Europa, with its vast subsurface ocean, actually has conditions suitable for supporting life.
Over the years, TERC has created many different materials related to the search for life beyond Earth, including an entire Astrobiology curriculum, NASA Life on Earth … and Elsewhere? educator resource guide, and now, as part of the NSF-funded project UniVRsal Access, the Virtual Reality game Europa Prime.
![View of Europa assembled from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft](https://www.terc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/View_Of_Europa_image-300x197.jpg)
View of Europa assembled from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute)
![Scene of Europa’s surface with Jupiter in the sky from the STEM-based virtual reality game Europa Prime](https://www.terc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Scene-of-Europa-surface-300x197.jpg)
Scene of Europa’s surface with Jupiter in the sky from the STEM-based virtual reality game Europa Prime (EdGE at TERC and MXTreality)
Here is the set of Europa Prime educational activities and materials presented at the 2024 Space Exploration Educators Conference.
- Activity 1: Space Exploration Brainstorm
- Activity 2: Space Exploration Card Sorting
- Activity 3: How Does Life on Earth Inform Our Search?
- Activity 4: Design an Alien
Alien life form, the Minos, around hydrothermal vents potentially found in the subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
![A preliminary drawing by members of the UniVRsal Access co-design team showing colorful Minos, a cephalopod-like alien lifeform, swimming around hydrothermal vents in the subsurface ocean of Europa. Pairs with an image from the VR game developed as part of UniVRsal Access.](https://www.terc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Alien-life-form.jpg)
Initial design drawing by members of a neurodiverse co-design team (Daniel Lougen and Jamie Larsen, EdGE at TERC)
![Art from the VR game Europa Prime showing colorful Minos, a cephalopod-like alien lifeform, swimming around hydrothermal vents in the subsurface ocean of Europa. Pairs with an preliminary drawing by members of the UniVRsal Access co-design process.](https://www.terc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Alien-life-form2.jpg)
Art from the virtual reality game Europa Prime (EdGE at TERC and MXTreality)
Other Resources: NASA
- Europa Clipper: Exploring Jupiter’s Icy Moon: Exploring Jupiter’s Icy Moon, everything from the latest on the mission to why Europa is important for our search for life
- Europa Clipper Poster
- Ocean Worlds: The Search for Life video
- Scientist for a Day Option 3: Europa video
- Astrobiology at NASA: Life in the Universe, NASA’s astrobiology learning materials site
- Astrobiology in Missions: A NASA link to information on Astrobiology probes past, present, future
- Astrobiology Education Poster (Life: What is it? Where is it? How do we find it?) with supportive reading and activities
- Astrobiology: The NASA Graphic History Series, graphic novels about many facets of astrobiology
- Astrobiology in Your Classroom: Life on Earth… and elsewhere? Educator Resource Guide
- 5000 Exoplanets: Listen to the Sounds of Discovery, a NASA data sonification video tracking the discovery of planets beyond our solar system
Other Resources: NOAA
- Student Investigation: Bioluminescence – An Adaptation for Deep-sea Survival
- Hydrothermal Vents: Fact Sheet
- Deep Ocean Education Project, offering a variety of images and links to the exploration of the deep ocean
- Ocean Today: Life on a Vent
- Ocean Exploration: Education Theme: Vents and Volcanoes
Other Resources
- Hydrothermal Vents: Woods Hole Hydrothermal Vent Interactives
- Nautilus Live: Ocean education resources from activities to videos
- Alien Oceans (book; purchase required)
- Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space video by Kevin Hand
- If the Moon were Only 1 Pixel, a tediously accurate scale model of the solar system
- Europa Clipper: Exploring Jupiter’s Icy Moon: Exploring Jupiter’s Icy Moon, everything from the latest on the mission to why Europa is important for our search for life
- Europa Clipper Poster
- Ocean Worlds: The Search for Life video
- Scientist for a Day Option 3: Europa video
- Astrobiology at NASA: Life in the Universe, NASA’s astrobiology learning materials site
- Astrobiology in Missions: A NASA link to information on Astrobiology probes past, present, future
- Astrobiology Education Poster (Life: What is it? Where is it? How do we find it?) with supportive reading and activities
- Astrobiology: The NASA Graphic History Series, graphic novels about many facets of astrobiology
- Astrobiology in Your Classroom: Life on Earth… and elsewhere? Educator Resource Guide
- 5000 Exoplanets: Listen to the Sounds of Discovery, a NASA data sonification video tracking the discovery of planets beyond our solar system
- Student Investigation: Bioluminescence – An Adaptation for Deep-sea Survival
- Hydrothermal Vents: Fact Sheet
- Deep Ocean Education Project, offering a variety of images and links to the exploration of the deep ocean
- Ocean Today: Life on a Vent
- Ocean Exploration: Education Theme: Vents and Volcanoes
Other Resources
- Hydrothermal Vents: Woods Hole Hydrothermal Vent Interactives
- Nautilus Live: Ocean education resources from activities to videos
- Alien Oceans (book; purchase required)
- Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space video by Kevin Hand
- If the Moon were Only 1 Pixel, a tediously accurate scale model of the solar system
- Hydrothermal Vents: Woods Hole Hydrothermal Vent Interactives
- Nautilus Live: Ocean education resources from activities to videos
- Alien Oceans (book; purchase required)
- Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space video by Kevin Hand
- If the Moon were Only 1 Pixel, a tediously accurate scale model of the solar system
![Europa and Astrobiology Education Resources](https://www.terc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Scene-of-Europa-surface.jpg)
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Related People:
Teon Edwards
Jamie Larsen
Erin Bardar