The moon of Jupiter is a good place to look for life. Evidence shows that the frozen moon is rich in life-enabling chemistry.
New research shows that the moon is pulling oxygen to the surface, where it could be feeding simple life.
The debate about whether or not life can be found in the ocean's surface is not over until NASA sends the Europa Clipper.
NASA bases part of the design of the Clipper mission on what scientists want it to address. We can't tell a spaceship to find life.
NASA can only answer small, specific questions when they design missions with big questions in mind. Scientists are studying different aspects of the planet and performing simulations to find out what questions they need to ask.
Oxygen is at the center of one of those questions. It could be the final piece in the puzzle.
Most of what life needs to sustain itself is what we think Europa has. There is an abundance of water in the ocean. The oceans of Earth have less water than the waters of Europa.
It also has the required vitamins. Jupiter's tidal flexing from the ocean stops the ocean from freezing solid and is the energy source for life. Most scientists know these facts.
Oxygen is found at the frozen moon's surface, another hint of habitability. The oxygen is created when charged particles from Jupiter hit the moon.
The problem is that the ice sheet is a barrier between the ocean and oxygen. Any life would have to be in the ocean because the surface is frozen solid.
Oxygen makes its way from the surface to the ocean.
There are pools of saltwater in the icy shell that could be carrying oxygen to the ocean. The research letter was published in the journal.
The lead author is a professor at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences.
The briny pools are in places in the shell where some ice melt due to the ocean currents. Chaos terrain forms above these pools.
Kevin M. Gill is a NASA/JPL-Caltech employee.
Chaos terrain covers 25 percent of the frozen surface. There are ridges, cracks, faults, and plains in chaos terrain.
There is no clear understanding of the causes of chaos terrain. This feature is highlighted in some of the most famous images of Europa.
Scientists think the ice sheet is 10 to 15 miles thick. The study found that the chaos terrain may be found above the lakes of liquid water.
These lakes can drain into the ocean. The briny lakes can mix with surface oxygen and deliver large quantities of oxygen to the deeper ocean according to a new study.
The research puts this process into the realm of possibilities.
Oxygen is transported through the ice in a simulation.
Hesse et al. Res. Lett.
The figure shows how oxidants are distributed in the ice. Radiolysis puts H 2 O into H 2 and O. Some of the O 2 is released into the moon's atmosphere, but most of it returns to the regolith and is trapped in bubbles. The bubbles are the main source of oxidants. The bubbles can go down to the ocean for thousands of years.
The brine moves to the ocean in a wave. A porosity wave transports the brine through the ice by widening the pores in the ice before it seals up again.
Oxygen transport and chaos terrain are not completely clear. The ice under the brine must be molten or partially molten for the oxygen-rich brine to drain into the ocean.
The underlying ice must be partially molten for these brines to drain. The authors write that previous studies show that tidal heating increases the temperature of upwellings in the convecting portion of the ice shell.
The letter says that it is plausible that the underlying ice is partially molten. The connecting ice is likely to increase the melt.
Oxygen cannot be transported in brines because the surface is not cold enough to refreeze. The temperature at the moon's poles never goes above minus 220 C.
The model shows that refreezing at the surface is too slow to arrest the drainage of the brine and prevent oxidant delivery to the internal ocean.
The ice under the surface of Europa isconvective, which delays freezing. The seafloor may be volcanic according to some research.
According to the study, 86 percent of the oxygen taken up at the surface makes it to the ocean. The percentage could have changed widely.
The model that produced the highest estimate creates an ocean that is very similar to Earth. Is something living under the ice?
Steven Vance is a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the supervisor of its Planetary Interiors and Geophysics Group.
Kevin Hand is one of the many scientists who are interested in the potential for life and the upcoming Europa Clipper mission. Hand is a NASA/JPL scientist. He is hopeful that the problem of oxygen in the frozen moon's oceans has been solved by the researchers.
The answer seems to be yes, because of the work by Hesse and his colleagues.
What questions can the Clipper ask to confirm the findings?
The Clipper is the first mission dedicated to the island. We don't know many things about Europa, but we know a lot. The Clipper addresses three larger objectives.
Oxygen can be transported from the surface to the ocean. The instruments that will work together to address these questions will be carried by the Europa Clipper.
When it comes to oxygen transport onEuropa, the MAss SPectrometer is particularly interesting.
The instrument will gain crucial answers from gases near the ocean, such as the chemistry of the surface and atmosphere.
Oxygen could be transported from the surface to the ocean if life exists there.
We will have to wait a while.
The Jupiter system will not be reached until 5.5 years after the launch of the Europa Clipper. The science phase is expected to last four years. We don't have all the data yet.
We will be whetted by research like this.
The article was published by Universe Today. The original article is worth a read.
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