Included in NASA’s proposed $18.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2016 is $100 million dollars earmarked for planning a mission to Europa, as well as an $30 million to study a specific plan called Europa clipper.

This really isn’t very surprising and shouldn’t be too controversial when the budget goes to congress. Last year NASA was mandated by law to get ready for a trip to Europa.

Jupiter’s icy moon, slightly smaller than our own, may not seem like a good bet for life. It is 500 million miles from the sun and covered in ice. However, the moon gets extra energy from the gravitational pull of Jupiter and, just as it does on Earth, ice provides an insulating effect for the water underneath it.

Massive geysers of water, more than 100 miles high, have been observed erupting from Europa’s south pole indicating that the water beneath the ice is active and moving. It is also possible that there is volcanic activity beneath the surface, further warming the water according to NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan.

“All the ingredients are there to make us think Europa is the next place to go. With that combination of volcanism and water, good things are going to happen,” said Stofan at a Planetary Society event in August of last year.

Volcanic activity could provide the basis for a chemosynthesis and the roots of a food chain. Not only does life on Earth exist at incredible ocean depths and under extreme conditions but more extreme examples are found on a regular basis.

Last month a team working in the antarctic found a variety of species living in 30 feet of water between the ocean floor and a 2,500 foot sheet of ice.

So, while no one is expecting to find advanced intelligent life on Europa, it is entirely possible that something is there. Given sufficient heat, water and a source of food or energy if life took root it could still exist there.

“On Earth, any place we find liquid water, we find life. So, one of NASA’s edicts is to follow the water; maybe you’ll find life,” Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of Cosmos and StarTalk radio, to Business Insider.

It may not be as exciting as a visit from a flying saucer but if there is life on Earth and life on Europa, it is very likely that there is much more life waiting to be found in other locations.

NASA’s current leading mission plan Europa Clipper would send a probe to the icy moon to perform detailed reconnaissance. The spacecraft would go into orbit around Jupiter and perform 45 close flybys of Europa at distances ranging from 16 to 1700 miles.

The craft would be loaded with scientific instruments to perform analysis of the icy moon.

“The possible payload of science instruments under consideration includes radar to penetrate the frozen crust and determine the thickness of the ice shell, an infrared spectrometer to investigate the composition of Europa’s surface materials, a topographic camera for high-resolution imaging of surface features, and an ion and neutral mass spectrometer to analyze the moon’s trace atmosphere during flybys,” says the NASA website.

Depending on the data returned by the Clipper, NASA might then send additional specialized missions to further explore the frozen world.