by |
Asim Ismail |
Sunday 24 April 2022 – 10:53 AM
Scientists say they are one step closer to understanding the moon Europa, which orbits Jupiter and is widely considered a prime candidate for extraterrestrial life.
Europa, the sixth closest moon to Jupiter, is believed to contain a salty subterranean water hidden by a thick outer crust of ice.
But according to a new study conducted by researchers at Stanford University in the United States looking at the topology of the moon, there is what could indicate the presence of liquid water much closer to the surface than previously thought.
According to the study, which was published this week in the scientific journal Nature Communications, “our results indicate that shallow liquid water is spatially and temporally present everywhere across Europe’s ice sheet.”
Scientists estimate that the waters around Europa is about 90 miles deep. The gravitational pull of the other transiting moons causes this moon to move and bend gently, which helps it generate its own heat. The result is a vast, temperate ocean full of salt water that would potentially be the perfect incubator for life.
However, the salty liquid is hidden under an ice crust that researchers estimate to be about 18 miles deep. In order to investigate the depths of the ocean, any spacecraft that landed on Europa would need to dig – or so they thought.
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The scientists noted that giant parallel ridges extending for hundreds of miles on Europe were very similar to surface features discovered on the Greenland ice sheet. The double spurs could indicate liquid water barely a mile below the surface.
The researchers describe how Greenland’s double ice ridges, which are about 50 times smaller than those on Europe, formed when shallow pools of groundwater froze and repeatedly broke the surface, steadily rising the double ridges.
The researchers say that if the edges of Double Europa were formed in the same way, it would indicate the presence of liquid water on the Moon less than a mile below the surface.
In one of the last passes, a NASA satellite captured images of a smaller version of a double ridge similar to the one crisscrossing the surface of Europa, according to UBI.
“If this mechanism controls the formation of the double spurs in Europe, the widespread prevalence of double ridges at the surface implies that liquid water was and remains a diffuse feature within the ice crust’s fragile cover, suggesting that shallow water processes may be more dominant in Europe,” the researchers wrote. Shaping Europe’s dynamics, surface morphology, and habitability than previously thought.
In 2024, NASA announced that it plans to launch the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will use advanced radar to examine the icy surface of Europa. It also announced its intention to launch a vehicle that can drill into the ice, without specifying a launch date.