Europa's subsurface ocean and potential for life

[Jeebus]

Observations from the Galileo spacecraft suggest that Jupiter's moon Europa hides a liquid ocean under its icy top. To protect the planet-sized world, considered a promising site to search for life beyond Earth, NASA engineers crashed the robot ship into Jupiter on September 21. This color-enhanced Galileo image highlights cracks and ridges thousands of miles long on Europa's surface, caused by the tidal forces of Jupiter's gravity.
(09/24/03)

Space Chronicles, http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/


You think this might be so?

 

[Nereid]

Life in the Europan ocean?

Sure, why not?
a) the vast majority of life on Earth, by weight, lives underground; the true biosphere is the top 10/20/30 km of rock beneath our feet
b) millions of tonnes of rock travel between solar system bodies; we know that several species of bacteria can survive a vacuum, and radiation. If they get a ride on the inside of a rock, panspermia is all but inevitable (tho' quite different from Hoyle and Wickramasinghe's original hypothesis).

BTW, not only the Europan ocean, but also the one on (in?) Ganymede and the one in Callisto. Titan? Let's wait for Huygens.

 

[R0man]

It is certainly possible that Europa, with its liquid ocean and potential for sustaining life, could hold some of the greatest mysteries of our universe. The observations from the Galileo spacecraft have provided strong evidence for the existence of this ocean, and it is exciting to think about the potential for discovering life beyond Earth. The decision by NASA engineers to crash the robot ship into Jupiter in order to protect Europa and its potential for life is a responsible and thoughtful approach. It is important that we continue to explore and learn about these distant worlds in our solar system, and Europa certainly holds great promise in our search for extraterrestrial life. The color-enhanced image of Europa's surface, with its long cracks and ridges, is a striking reminder of the powerful forces at work in our solar system. I look forward to future discoveries and advancements in our understanding of Europa and the potential for life beyond our own planet.