{"id":63343,"date":"2024-09-05T07:36:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T07:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/380078cc-7ebe-475d-9597-7114cdffa5e6"},"modified":"2024-09-05T07:39:42","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T07:39:42","slug":"humans-wouldnt-survive-on-jupiters-moon-europa-yet-its-one-of-the-most-promising-places-in-the-search-for-life","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/humans-wouldnt-survive-on-jupiters-moon-europa-yet-its-one-of-the-most-promising-places-in-the-search-for-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Humans wouldn’t survive on Jupiter’s moon Europa, yet it’s one of the most promising places in the search for life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 05 September 2024 at 07:36 AM<\/p>

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NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft is set to launch in October 2024 and begin its journey to the Jovian system.<\/p>

There, it will orbit Jupiter and perform fly-bys of the gas giant’s icy moon Europa, which is thought to have a liquid ocean beneath its icy crust.<\/p>

This makes it a prime target for planetary scientists interested in the search for life beyond Earth.<\/p>

So does that make it some sort of oceanic paradise, where life might flourish and humans could one day live?<\/p>

In a word, no. But that’s not the whole answer.<\/p>

We could soon know whether Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid ocean beneath its icy crust. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Scientists naturally remain guarded about Europa\u2019s habitability.<\/p>

“Science doesn\u2019t have neat answers to questions,” says Bonnie Buratti of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Europa Clipper deputy project scientist.<\/p>

“We\u2019re not looking for life. We\u2019re looking for habitable environments \u2013 areas where life could thrive.”<\/p>

\"A
A view of Jupiter’s moon Europa captured by the Juno spacecraft during its flyby on 29 September 2022. Credit: Image data: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS Image processing: Kevin M. Gill CC BY 3.0 Full Image Details<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Europa’s habitability<\/strong><\/h2>

Make no mistake: humans could not survive on Jupiter’s frigid moon Europa.<\/p>

Hundreds of times colder than Earth\u2019s coldest landscapes, bathed in radiation that would cook us within hours, gravitationally kneaded by Jupiter\u2019s immense gravity and girdled by the thinnest whisper of an oxygen atmosphere, this is a blasted, inhospitable place \u2013 alien through and through.<\/p>

Yet here on Earth, wherever we find water, we find life<\/a>.<\/p>

And Europa\u2019s oceans might have twice as much water as ours.<\/p>

As well as this, a recent study using data from NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft revealed that Europa produces 1,000 tonnes of oxygen every 24 hours<\/a>.<\/p>

\"Material
Material in this oddly-shaped region on Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa has the appearance of frozen slush, and could be caused by the up-swelling of icy lava from a subsurface liquid ocean. Credit: NASA\/JPL<\/figcaption><\/figure>

“Life has evolved on Earth through a whole evolutionary process,” Buratti says.<\/p>

Even in the deep ocean trenches, unreachable even for sunlight, there is life in geothermal vents \u2013 from extremophiles to burrowing worms to deep-sea fish.<\/p>

“Not teeming with life,” Buratti admits, “but there are living things down there.”<\/p>

And perhaps the hardy microbes found in Antarctica\u2019s subglacial Lake Vostok afford the closest analogues to what hypothetical Europan life forms could look like.<\/p>

But beyond that point of supposition, for now Europa\u2019s slate remains blank.<\/p>

“It\u2019s really alien,” Buratti says. “We don\u2019t know what it\u2019s going to be like.”<\/p>

This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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