![]() The interaction with warm rock could supply hydrogen and other chemicals to the ocean. The more the moon’s interior flexes, the more heat is generated. The flexing forces energy into the moon’s interior, which then seeps out as heat (think of how repeatedly bending a paperclip generates heat). As Europa revolves around the gas giant, the icy moon’s interior flexes. If the oxygen somehow makes its way to the ocean, it could react with other chemicals to possibly provide chemical energy for microbial life.Įuropa’s ocean is also probably in direct contact with warm rock at the seafloor. Oxygen is a very reactive element, which means it could potentially be used in chemical reactions that release energy. The hydrogen floats away and much of the oxygen stays behind and may bind to other elements. ![]() The radiation splits apart water molecules (H2O, made of oxygen and hydrogen) in Europa's extremely tenuous atmosphere. But the radiation may create fuel for life in an ocean below the surface. That's a bad thing for life on the surface – it couldn't survive. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechĮuropa's surface is blasted by radiation from Jupiter. Elsewhere, domes, pits, and jumbles of icy blocks hint that warm ice may be rising from deep below.Įuropa's surface is blasted by radiation from Jupiter. Many of these features coincide with long, curving streaks that are dark and reddish in color – some stretching across the surface in great arcs over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) long. Ridges and grooves crisscross the surface, breaking up the landscape. It’s the smoothest body in the solar system, with few towering mountains or deep basins. Scientists think the most likely cause of this magnetic signature is a global ocean of salty water.Įuropa's bright, icy surface is unlike anything seen on Earth. While Europa has no magnetic field of its own, when the Galileo spacecraft made 12 close flybys of Europa, its magnetometer detected a magnetic field within Europa as Jupiter's powerful magnetic field swept past the moon. The best evidence that there's an ocean at Europa was gathered by NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. The puzzling, fascinating surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa looms large in this reprocessed color view, made from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand the potential for finding life beyond our planet and guide us in our search. NASA is sending the Europa Clipper spacecraft to conduct a detailed exploration of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life. Jupiter’s icy moon Europa may have these essential ingredients and is as old as Earth. We should look for life on worlds where sufficient time has passed for life to get started. How do we search for life beyond our home planet? Scientists say we should look for three key ingredients that make life possible: liquid water, chemistry, and energy. Life is abundant on Earth, but we haven’t yet found it anywhere else in the universe. But did you know that Earth is not the only world in our solar system with an ocean? Here’s what you need to know about Ocean Worlds. Our planet is a beautiful water-filled world, teeming with life.
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