Jupiter's ocean-harboring moon Europa may show signs of life and NASA is planning a potential life-hunting mission to the surface. According to a new report by the "Science Definition Team" (SDT), the stationary Europa lander would use multiple instruments to search for signs of alien life in samples collected from just beneath the moon's icy surface.

This illustration conceptualizes a lander design for the potential mission to the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa.

The interesting and icy surface of Jupiter's moon, Europa.

A tighter view of the surface from NASA's Galileo spacecraft details a pattern of linear fractures on the surface of Europa. Newer fractures cross over older ones, and several wide, dark bands are visible where the surface has spread apart in the past.

The most detailed view of the surface of Europa, captured during NASA's Galileo mission.

Astronomers hypothesize that chloride salts bubble up from Europa’s ocean and reach the frozen surface where they are met with volcanic sulfur from Jupiter's innermost large moon, Io.

There is evidence of plate tectonics on Jupiter's moon Europa. This illustration of the subduction process (where one plate is forced under another) shows how a cold, brittle, outer portion of Europa's ice shell moved into the warmer shell interior and was ultimately subsumed.

The mysterious looking surface of Europa is covered in reddish spots and shallow pits in this view composed of info gathered by NASA's Galileo spacecraft during two different orbits around Jupiter.