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Ocean Worlds Exploration Program
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<p>The Ocean Worlds Exploration Program (OWEP) is a <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> program to explore <a href="/facts/Ocean_world/Ml33anp6">ocean worlds</a> in the <a href="/facts/Outer_Solar_System/QIcLSazQ">outer Solar System</a> that could possess <a href="/facts/Subsurface_ocean/8W8lYgjD">subsurface oceans</a> to assess their <a href="/facts/Planetary_habitability/n8A0ehR8">habitability</a> and to seek <a href="/facts/Biosignature/vaG06nRB">biosignatures</a> of simple <a href="/facts/Extraterrestrial_life/arxCPFTQ">extraterrestrial life</a>. </p><p>Prime targets include <a href="/facts/Natural_satellite/AE4KQKbq">moons</a> that harbor hidden oceans beneath a shell of ice: <a href="/facts/Europa_(moon)/2A9nleK3">Europa</a>, <a href="/facts/Enceladus_(moon)/DyWXz9jl">Enceladus</a>, and <a href="/facts/Titan_(moon)/lg0l9PCH">Titan</a>. A host of other bodies in the outer Solar System are inferred by a single type of observation or by theoretical modeling to have subsurface oceans. </p><p>The US House Appropriations Committee approved the bill on May 20, 2015, and directed NASA to create the Ocean Worlds Exploration Program. The "Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds" (ROW) was started in 2016, and was presented in January 2019. The formal program is being implemented within the agency by supporting the <i><a href="/facts/Europa_Clipper/LuaX203A">Europa Clipper</a></i> orbiter mission to Europa, and the <a href="/facts/Dragonfly_(Titan_space_probe)/D753heTr"><i>Dragonfly</i></a> mission to Titan. The program is also supporting concept studies for a proposed <a href="/facts/Europa_Lander_(NASA)/NLqNDJj5">Europa Lander</a>, and concepts to explore the moon <a href="/facts/Triton_(moon)/mxxRUygc">Triton</a>. <a href="/facts/Amanda_Hendrix/GjKbXlIY">Amanda Hendrix</a> and Terry A. Hurford are the co-leads of the NASA Roadmaps to Oceans World Group. </p>