Habitability in the Solar System and New Planetary Missions

Abstract

Definition of habitability depends on the organisms under consideration. One way to determine habitability of some environment is to compare its certain parameters to environments where extremophilic micro-organisms thrive on Earth. We can also define more common habitability criteria from the life as we know it. These criteria include basic elements, liquid water and an energy source. We know that some locations in our Solar System provide at least some of these limits and criteria. This article describes the aims and technical specifications of some planetary missions, such as NASAs MSL in 2012, ESAs ExoMars missions in 2016 and 2018, and JUICE in 2033. These missions will explore habitability of Mars, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Here we compare defined habitability criteria to instrumentation documentation to determine whether these missions could validate the habitability of Mars and those Jovian moons. These missions have about 13 habitability assessment related instruments for Mars, 3 for Europa, 5 for Ganymede and Callisto. I conclude that these missions will yield important information for habitability assessment of these targets.