Life on Europa? When will we know?

Hi everyone. I've always been fascinated by Europa. It all started with Arthur C. Clarke as I'm sure it did with many readers here. If it's covered in ice, chances are somewhere beneath the ice there is water. Even if we didn't find life under the ice, it would be an ideal spot for mankind to learn to adapt to the rigors of living in space. I do happen to think that there is some form of life underneath that ice layer.... not necessarily saying it's sentient, but it seems like a more plausible investment than a trip to Mars..... not that I'm against that either. I'm just interested in what others may think on the subject, and to gather factual information regarding Europa and our eventual journey there.


Peace be with you.

Miles Teg

reply to post by MilesTeg


Gonna be a while, if you have been following Lake Vostok you would see that we barely even posses the know how to drill into water under deep ice on Earth without contamination and large complications. Doing so on a moon of Jupiter is out of reach for the near future I think.

Europa has always been my guess for a best candidate for life but I also feel Mars and Titan are also probably good bets and Mars is much more accessible than Europa.

from our timeline it seems far..but i have a gut feeling that humanity will soon have a big boost in technology..we can all see how computer contributed to amazing achievements in short time...what will be the outcome of quantum technology..will be having again an amazing boost of knowledge and technology...maybe in 10years time..sending probes to europa drilling ice and looking for life might look far more closer than one can think now

reply to post by MilesTeg


Never!!!!! remember these words

ALL THESE WORLDS
ARE YOURS EXCEPT
EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO
LANDING THERE

Love your avatar.. first time i see Galactus smile

Well its kind of a monalisa thingy goin on there.

would love to be here to find out but at age of 37 i think europa is years beyond my life time

If you’ve ever found yourself wanting to know if there’s extraterrestrial life on Europa, this latest study into the Jovian moon’s icy crust should whet your appetite.

Using data from the powerful Keck II Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawai’i, astronomers Mike Brown, of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Kevin Hand, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), have found strong evidence that suggests chemicals from Europa’s sub-surface ocean are leaking to the surface. In turn, chemicals from the surface are likely cycling into the ocean too. The research has been published in the Astrophysical Journal.

This discovery is profound when considering the live-giving potential of Jupiter’s largest moon — it is further proof that the sub-surface ocean isn’t cut off from the surface; chemicals are cycling into the ocean, potentially supporting a hypothetical Europan biosphere.

Source


It will probably take at least another 50 years before we can send anything capable to taking photographs. But under the circumstances there is no real reason to consider that life does not
exist on that Moon.

OP, I find your timing interesting. Just yesterday, Phil Plait had a new article about Europa on his blog, in which he discribes some new findings. It appears as though there is a "leak" in the ice, so we might discover a lot more about the oceans on Europa.

Astronomer Mike Brown*—discoverer of the giant outer-solar-system iceball Eris which is what started the machinery that kicked Pluto out of the planet club—has found some pretty strong evidence that Jupiter’s moon Europa has sprung a leak. Its undersurface ocean may be mixing with the icy surface, making it possible to understand its composition without having to dig down through dozens of kilometers of solid ice.

And why is this so very cool? Well, it means that if we want to find out what the ocean under Europa is made of, we don’t have to punch a hole through kilometers of ice (some missions have been proposed to do just that). All we have to do is either aim better telescopes at the surface, or send more sophisticated probes to do the same. Digging would be better, of course, but may not be so urgent.

the whole blog, with new findings are here: www.slate.com...

reply to post by Hellhound604


Yeah thanks! That's why I posted about it. I read the article on space.com. I think if something doesn't happen to boon our space program, Europa will be the next big step towards long-distance space travel.