As of: March 10, 2024, 8:22 a.m
By: Florian Neuroth
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Researchers suspect that life is possible on Jupiter's moon Europa.
However, new data shows that an important building block is significantly rarer there than expected.
Washington, DC – There are few places in the solar system that capture people's imagination as much as Jupiter's moon Europa.
After all, researchers have long suspected that extraterrestrial life could be possible there.
This is because “Europe” only appears to resemble a giant ball of ice.
A liquid salt water ocean is said to exist beneath the 20 to 30 kilometer thick ice shell - this is suggested by measurements from the space probes “Voyager” and “Galileo” as well as model calculations.
A few months ago, researchers also found the most important building block for life on “Europe”: carbon.
Jupiter's moon Europa is considered a suitable candidate for life in the solar system.
However, new data shows that less oxygen is produced there than previously assumed.
(Archive image) © IMAGO/Cover Images
NASA scientists: Significantly less oxygen production on Jupiter's moon Europa
Another element that could make life possible is now much rarer on the ice moon than previously thought.
Researchers on a mission from the US space agency NASA have calculated that nowhere near as much oxygen is produced on the “Europe” surface as previous studies had suggested.
NASA announced this on Monday (March 4).
The US Space Agency refers to a study that
was published on
nature.com on the same day.
The data comes from NASA's Juno spacecraft.
It came within 354 kilometers of Jupiter's moon on September 29, 2022.
As Juno flew by, the probe collected data.
This also included the amount of oxygen produced on the surface of Jupiter's moon - an indication of whether there could actually be life on "Europe".
Jupiter's moon Europa produces 12 kilograms of oxygen per second - less than expected in previous studies
The editors of the study believe that around 12 kilograms of oxygen are produced per second on “Europe”.
The number is many times lower than previously thought.
In previous studies, estimates ranged from a few kilograms to more than 1,000 kilograms per second.
Jupiter's moon produces 1,000 tons of oxygen every day - enough for around a million people, according to NASA.
“Europe” is the fourth largest of 95 known Jupiter moons and lies in the middle of its radiation belt.
The gas giant is practically bombarding its satellite with charged or ionized particles.
These split water molecules into two parts and thus generate oxygen on the ice surface.
“Europe is like an ice ball that is slowly losing its water in a flowing stream,” says scientist Jamey Szalay from Princeton University in New Jersey, comparing the process in which the particles break up the water ice on the surface molecule by molecule.
“In a sense, the entire ice shell is continually being eroded by waves of charged particles washing up on it,” says Szalay.
Does oxygen penetrate from the surface of the icy moon Europa to the ocean inside?
NASA scientists now suspect that some of the oxygen produced could end up beneath the moon's surface.
There the oxygen could become a source of metabolic energy in the suspected subterranean salt ocean.
According to NASA, the researchers are “curious about the potential for life-sustaining conditions beneath the surface.”
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The question of whether Jupiter's moon is habitable or not will continue to concern the space agency in the future.
"We are not finished yet.
More lunar flybys and the first exploration of Jupiter's narrow ring and polar atmosphere are still to come, said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
Space probes “Europa Clipper” and “Juice” also fly to Jupiter and its moons
NASA will probably send a new probe, the “Europa Clipper”, towards Jupiter in October 2024.
The probe will, among other things, examine oxygen production on Europa.
The “Juice” space probe of the European Space Agency (ESA) is already on its way there.
It flies to Jupiter and the three moons Europa, Callisto and Ganymede.
Oceans are suspected under all three moons.
Here, too, one of the questions that needs to be answered is: Are or were there the right conditions for life there?
(Florian Neuroth)