Colonization of Europa

Since the Moon is too barren a satellite to survive on, and Mars suffers from deficiencies that would make it difficult to terraform (e.g. weak magnetic field, low atmospheric pressure) but for those Arthur C. Clarke fans out there, Jupiter's moon Europa is the closest thing to possibly support extraterrestrial life in the solar system, with a dense atmosphere and potential oceans beneath the permafrost. Any planetary buffs got ideas as to how, or even why, we could go about making this a new home, supposing we keep #ing Earth up (disclaimer: I don't believe that global warming will destroy us in even the next thousand years, but I'll play devil's advocate.)?

Ummm...does Europa even have an atmosphere? Granted, I don't have that fact on me, but if I'm not greatly mistaken it's too small to support one.

Europa does have one thing we need, and can do a lot with, in abundance, and that's water. We can drink it, make air out of it, make rocket fuel with it. Unfortunately, that's about all that's there. Can't make a house out of it. This brings us to another problem--due to the gravitational pull on it as well as the elasticity of slush, the surface of Europa appears to be "not entirely stable". Even if the mineral assets were to be brought in for construction, there's no telling how long it would hold in place until the slushball decided to move underneath whatever structure was built.

Q's verdict: technically possible, but most difficult.

Interesting topic...

The good things about Europa, of course, is that transfers to orbit would be quite easy. It may not suitable for colonisation, but it would certainly be a convenient refuelling station if we're talking about manned missions to the outer planets. As Q observed, water is just about the only thing we need for long-term missions, and since Europa is arguably the best chance for ET life in our solar system, I'd consider it to be a priority mission. Now all we have to worry about is the variable magnetic field...

And Don, I can't believe that someone who knows the works of Arthur C Clarke is suggesting that we land on Europa!

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS...

Europa, nice place, but no atmosphere.

Although, I've seen it described as a tenuous, minimal atmosphere.
Mostly the sublimated traces of water vapor. Doesn't linger long.

But, maybe some life is already there? WE should find out.

I wonder, if we find life, will we be "allowed" to use it as a
"fillin' station"?

In the far distant future.
Could we not use Europa, as
a way to colonize Mars?
after all, Europa has what mars needs (Water)
And Mars has what Europa needs (stable surface).

Of Course, the Hard part would be moving the resources from Europa,
to Mars. Impossible?

Originally posted by spacedoubt
Europa, nice place, but no atmosphere.

Hehe, didn't know it had no atmosphere. The problem with shipping "water" to Mars is that, for one thing, Mars already has ice in the polar caps, and even if we could use it to create an Earth-like atmosphere, it would be too thin and not radiation-proof enough to be suitable.

Don,

True about Mars, plus there is no protective magnetic field to speak of.
But Europa has one...That'd be a bit hard to export to another planet though..hmm.
If Europa and Mars were married and had children..LOL.
The best of both worlds, literally..!

Nuh, mate.
Mars has a "better-for-humans" Planetary-wide Magnetic Field than you may think. It's just "not advertised" that widely...

From;
spaceflightnow.com...
"New research from the University of Colorado at Boulder reveals that areas of the surface of Mars may be protected from the full force of solar radiation by areas of intensely magnetized crust. "



[Edited on 2-6-2004 by Ixataar]

Ixataar,

Thats good news then!

I had heard about the traces, but not that some areas were so strong.
And I'm assuming, since there's no "dynamo" that the fields are pretty stable..

Thanks.

MMMMMMM....magnetized crust...sounds like the latest promotion from pizza hut! I'd actually read somewhere about these alleged areas though. As I recall, it was some "conspiracy" about how these areas were actually engineered to protect the Martians... Still, a noteworthy fact to be sure.

Yes, a strong planetary magnetic field IS a good sign. Thanks on the info, Ixa!