Life may be in Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons

Europa was Jupiter’s natural satellite and was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. It is a completely frozen moon, although it hides a global ocean inside. Sneaking into this vast ocean is a mystery, but some research on it takes us in scientifically exciting directions.

An article in the journal Geophysical Research Letters described the recent volcanic activity in the depths of Europe. This caused a stir because life on earth exists under similar conditions.

Cynthia Phillips, a planetary geologist and scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: “If Europa had hydroponic ocean systems, they could be sources of thermal and chemical energy capable of supporting a biosphere.”

In 2024, NASA is expected to launch an orbit for the Europa Clipper mission, which will arrive in the outer solar system and approach the surface of the satellite, trying to record as much data and measurements as possible.

Europa’s frozen crust is estimated to oscillate by several dozen between a few kilometers. In any case, temperature discrepancies associated with potential volcanic activity can be detected by study.

“Europa is one of the few extraterrestrial systems that could have maintained volcanic activity for billions of years, and is the only large body of water beyond Earth and a source of long-term energy,” said the lead author of the L research. Mary Bahankova of Charles University.

The only problem is that 10 kilometers of ice ice completely isolates you from sunlight, so an imaginary life form would have found a different form to sustain itself: thermal or chemical.

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