Jumps on Board to Search for Life on Jupiter's Moon Europa

"Where there is an ocean, life could arise. In this respect, after Mars, the Europa satellite is probably the most intriguing place in the solar system."

~Lev Zelyony, Head of the Russian Space Research Institute

A senior Russian researcher told Interfax News Agency that Moscow will participate in a European mission to investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa and search for life forms. The moon is believed to harbor an underground ocean of liquid water - one of the essential ingredients for life (or at least life as Earthlings know it.)

The head of the Space Research Institute, Lev Zelyony, said a project to explore the giant gaseous planet Jupiter would shortly be included in the program of the European Space Agency (ESA) for the years 2015 to 2025.

"The main task is to explore its satellite Europa, on which under a thick layer of ice a liquid water ocean has been detected," said Zelyony.

Europa is about the same size as our Moon. At first glance, it looks like a dead, frozen wilderness. The entire surface is cloaked in a layer of ice. Yet, photographs of the moon taken by the Galileo probe revealed some exciting features in the ice. A complex web of lines criss-cross the globe. Only one other place in the solar system looks like that - the frozen Arctic seas on Earth. It is believed that the icy surface of Europa could be floating on a vast liquid ocean, just like the Arctic icebergs. All the ingredients for life are likely present.

If a liquid ocean does exists, there must be a heat source stopping it from freezing over. However, the ice that covers the surface is probably too thick to allow sunlight through. So what is keeping Europa warm?

Europa is just one of many moons that revolve around Jupiter. Jupiter's huge gravity holds it in orbit. But Europa is also pulled at from the other moons. Different forces, all pulling in different directions, yank Europa's surface out of shape as it travels through space, known as 'tidal forces'. These tidal forces heat up the moon's core. If the forces are strong enough, the core could be hot and melt the frozen water surrounding it.

It's even possible that the ocean floor may contain hotspots called 'hydrothermal vents', or cracks in the ground that spout warm, nutrient-rich water. Hydrothermal vents on Earth are rich in life. Astrobiologists are hoping that Europa could be similarly fertile.

In 2008, NASA plan to launch the Europa Orbiter - a probe that will explore this mysterious moon. It will scan the surface using radar, to locate where the ice is thinnest. This information will be used to plan the landing sites for future missions. Robotic probes will be sent to drill down through the ice to look for life in the water below.

Russia will participate in a program, called Laplace after French astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace, and has suggested landing a craft in one of the fissures in Europa's icy crust. Having landed, the craft would melt some of the ice and search for life forms.

Russia has gradually been reviving its space research program, which all but collapsed after the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. Moscow is hoping that joint efforts with the ESA will play a part in this revival.

At the end of this year an upgraded Russian Soyuz rocket is due to be launched for the first time from the ESA's Kourou launchpad in French Guiana. Last October Moscow also signed a deal with Washington to provide the US space agency NASA with instruments for scanning the Moon and for water.

Posted by Rebecca Sato

Related Galaxy posts:

Will Jupiter's Moon -Europa- Provide the 1st Proof of Extraterrestrial Life? -A Galaxy Insight

Links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/life/looking/europa.shtml
http://www.physorg.com/news118916148.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/080107114208.oxbwszjk.html
http://jupiter-europa.cesr.fr/

Comments

[Daniel Appleton]

Imagine a life form living in almost total darkness like there would be on Europa. We don't have to imagine it, we're seeing them in the depths of our own oceans here. The warming would very likely come from the gravitational pull of Jupiter on Europa, & perhaps the radiation from Jupiter's radiation belts. Arthur C. Clarke wrote about Europan life in " 2010 : A Space Odyssey II " & " 2061 ". I'm willing to bet his speculations are pretty close to what we might find there.

& Titan's methane - rich atmosphere might keep things warm enough for life to develop there as well.

Mars is a relatively closer - & seemingly Earth like - target upon which to look for signs of past life, but who knows what might live on Europa ( & Titan ) ?