The search for life outside the earth was one of the driving forces behind interplanetary missions and the most successful undertaking was around Jupiter and its moons. Among the 53 moons orbiting Jupiter, one is filled with data suggesting the presence of watery oceans beneath its surface, suggesting that the Stuff of Life is likely out there.
While NASA prepares for the start of the ambitious Europa Clipper mission In the direction of Jupiter’s moon of the same name, the mission will delve deeper into the mystery of possible water clouds ejecting from the surface of the ice-covered ocean world. The spacecraft will examine the moon from deep inside to its surface to see if it contains ingredients that will make it a viable home.
Scientists have said that Europe is geologically dynamic and generates heat internally as its solid layers stretch and flex due to the gravitational tug-of-war with its host planet and neighboring moons. It is not the heat of the sun that prevents the subterranean water from freezing on these ice-covered moons; it is this heat generated from within that could have stopped the freezing beneath the surface.
One of the first images of Enceladus’ water jets, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on November 27, 2005. In this image, Enceladus is backlit by the sun. (Photo: NASA)
EUROPE’S MYSTERIOUS WATER FEATHER
Scientists working with the Galileo spacecraft, the Hubble space telescope and large earth-based Telescopes have reported the discovery of faint plumes of water or their chemical components in Europe. However, no one is sure about the event.
“We’re still in an area where there is really fascinating evidence, but none of it is a slam dunk,” said Matthew McKay Hedman, a member of Europa Clipper’s Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) science team. If examined by the Europa Clipper spacecraft, these clouds could provide glimpses of the inner layers of the moon.
“It all depends on whether Europe is habitable, and that depends on having some understanding of what’s going on below the surface that we can’t yet achieve,” says Shawn Brooks, who works with Europa Clippers Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph ( Europe -UVS) announced the science team of NASA.
EUROPE NOT ALONE WITH POTENTIAL FOOD
Scientists first observed these mysterious clouds erupting from the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus in 2005. The huge column of vapor, ice particles, and organic molecules spraying from the moon’s south polar region suggested that there is an ocean of liquid water beneath Enceladus’ ice shell, confirming that the moon is geologically active.
These clouds push Enceladus and other worlds in the outer solar system, devoid of atmospheres and far from the heat of the sun, to the top of NASA’s list of places to look for signs of life. “A lot of people think that Europa will be Enceladus 2.0 with feathers constantly spraying off the surface. But we cannot see it that way; Europe is a whole different animal, “said Lynnae Quick, a member of the science team behind Clipper’s Europe Imaging System (EIS) cameras.
Europe is different from Enceladus in that it is much closer to Jupiter than Enceladus is for Saturn. On the moon, more heat is generated by friction as it orbits its host planet. “Given that the internal heat stimulates geological activity on rocky worlds, Europe is expected to have a more extensive geology than Enceladus,” said NASA.
WHAT IS THE EUROPEAN CLIPPER MISSION?
The Europa Clipper mission is preparing for implementation the first dedicated and detailed study of an ocean world beyond Earth. The probe will determine whether this distant moon has favorable conditions for life. The aim of the expedition is to explore Europe to study its habitability.
The spacecraft is not sent to find life itself, but instead tries to answer specific questions about Europe’s ocean, ice sheets, composition and geology. Europe was first discovered in 1610 by Gallileo, who also discovered three other moons, Ganymede, Callisto, and Io, around Jupiter.
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