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Jupiter's Moon Europa May Have Enough Oxygen For Life (physorg.com)
56 points by nate on Oct 18, 2009 | hide | past | favorite | 9 comments


"All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landings there."

Man, I would love to see a probe that can find out if there is life on Europa in my lifetime. That would be so amazing.


Jupiters moons sure are interesting, but aren't they bit cold for life?


Maybe, but not necessarily.

The heat on Europa would not come from the sun but from the gravitational friction (tidal flexing) caused by Jupiter. This would likely cause quite a bit of volcanic activity under the surface and possibly create deep underwater vents. There is an analogue on earth in the deep ocean and the so-called hydrothermal vents. There are ecosystems down there that exist without energy from the sun.


A lot of the bacteria by those vents get their energy from sulfur compounds. Other creatures can then eat these bacteria.

Europan life is likely to be cold, damp, and smelly!


As we've discovered in the last few decades, life in general has no concept of "too cold" or "too hot," or even "too irradiated."


We've pushed out the boundaries where earthly life is found a few 10s of degrees hotter and colder. I'd take that statement more seriously if it was a few 100s.


The range of temperatures over which water is a liquid (assuming reasonable pressures) is well within the range of temperatures that sustain life on this planet.


Perhaps we can help make the conclusion of 3001: The Final Odyssey a reality?


The other moon of interest here is Titan, a moon of Saturn that has seasons and surface liquid:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16626-europa-trumps-ti...

If you're interested in this kind of origin-of-life stuff, you might like "The Universe" or "Evolve"

http://www.history.com/content/universe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolve_%28TV_series%29




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