New research has found that any potential alien life in the waters of vast ocean worlds could receive vital nutrients from their molten core via thick layers of exotic high-pressure ice.
Worlds covered by global oceans hundreds of miles deep may outnumber "drier" planets like Earth. Several of the planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system are examples of water worlds.
A high-pressure ice known as ice VII can be formed at the bottom of the oceans due to the extreme conditions. The pressure of ice VII is greater than 3 gigaposcals and the temperature is up to 662 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ice is a new state of matter.
Scientists were unsure if salts and other minerals could move from a planet's rocky core through the ice VII mantle and into the liquid ocean. Normal ice expels salt when it's cold. The research shows that ice VII can have up to 2.5 wt% of table salt. Salt lowers the melting point of the ice and helps to cause the salty ice to rise.
A scientist at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France said that the transport of salt was from the bottom to the top. The hot ice at the bottom of the mantle is unstable because it is less dense than the surrounding ice. The temperature difference between the top and the bottom of the mantle is what keeps a global flow going.
The flow recycles the salts that are needed for Biochemistry. It is not certain that life exists in the oceans of these water worlds, but the presence of them increases the chances that such worlds could be hospitable.
The findings increase the number of planetary candidates for habitability by including super-Earths with high-pressure ice mantles. A commentary on the new research was written by Journaux.
Fresh insights could be brought closer to home by the results. Some of the frozen moons of Jupiter and Saturn are very similar to ocean worlds in our solar system. Although many of the moons are too small to harbor high-pressure ice, the largest of them are enough to form a mantle of ice VI.
Although ice VI is insoluble, researchers have previously detected hydrated salt minerals that have stained the surfaces of some of the moons. Scientists think that the finding indicates salt transport. Some of the Jupiter system's moons have an magnetic field caused by interactions between their salty oceans and the planet's huge magnetic field.
Salts still play an important role in these objects as they modify phase boundaries and influence the dynamics of the ice shell and oceans on these icy moons.
The best places to test the permeability of high-pressure ices are Callisto, Ganymede and Titan. Scientists will soon have a lot of new data from the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission. Jupiter will be supported by a number of missions, including NASA's Europa Clipper mission, which will launch in 2024, and a helicopter mission to Titan, which will launch in the year 2027.
The data from the icy moons will help us understand the role of high-pressure ice mantles in controlling the composition and habitability of extraterrestrial oceans.
The studies can't be made for distant planets. It will mostly be a matter of modeling if the ocean world could be a good place to live.
The research was published in a journal.
The 21st CenturySETI has a verified account. We encourage you to follow us on social networking sites.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
