A lander on Jupiter's icy moon Europa may have to dig at least 1 foot down to find signs of life
By Mike Wall 1 day ago
Jupiter's ocean moon Europa, as seen by NASA's Galileo probe. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute)
Robots may have to dig relatively deep on Jupiter's icy moon Europa to have a shot of finding signs of life, a new study suggests.
Scientists think Europa harbors a huge ocean of liquid water beneath its icy shell. This ocean appears to be in contact with the 1,940-mile-wide (3,100 kilometers) moon's rocky core, making possible a range of complex chemical reactions. As a result, Europa is generally regarded as one of the solar system's best bets to harbor alien life.
If life has ever existed on Europa, some signs of it may bubble out of that buried ocean onto the surface, where robots could potentially spot it. Well, not right on the surface; Europa gets hammered hard by charged particles, which are trapped and accelerated by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field.
Previous work has suggested that just 8 inches (20 centimeters) of ice could likely shield any biomolecules that might exist on Europa from that punishing radiation environment, even in the hardest-hit regions of the moon.
More:
https://www.space.com/jupiter-moon-europa-alien-life-dig-deep
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