While the SETI Institute is investigating interstellar space for extraterrestrial life, we may find it in our own cosmic backyard. It is unlikely to be anything other than microbial life, but even that would be a seismic, perception-altering discovery.

A NASA spacecraft has blasted off on a quest to explore Jupiter's moon Europa and reveal whether its hidden ocean might hold the keys to life.

NASA launched a spacecraft from Florida on Monday on a mission to examine whether Jupiter's moon Europa has conditions suitable to support life, with a focus on the large subsurface ocean believed to be lurking beneath its thick outer shell of ice.

It's attached to a spacecraft called the Europa Clipper, NASA's solar-winged, silvery probe built to study the intricacies of a Jovian moon that could have harbored life long ago, per scientists' calculations.

The spacecraft will be NASA's first dedicated to studying a distant ice-covered moon in our solar system to determine whether it could be habitable for life.