Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons, is thicc. Its icy shell is, at least.
Data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft indicate that the moon’s outer ice shell is far thicker than previously believed, reaching about 18 miles in the region studied, which is making scientists wonder just how realistic the prospect of life beneath its surface might be.
According to a published study in Nature Astronomy, Juno gathered this data during a close flyby on September 29, 2022, passing within 220 miles of Europa’s surface. Using its Microwave Radiometer, the spacecraft scanned roughly half the moon, measuring heat emissions that help scientists infer what’s happening below the frozen crust.
What they found was a tough outer layer of nearly pure water ice. And that’s just the outer shell. If a warmer convective layer lies beneath it, the total ice thickness could be even greater.
Is There Life on Europa, One of Jupiter’s Moons?
As theories suggest, Europa might have a salty ocean beneath its ice, making it one of the most promising places in the solar system to look for life. But the thicker the ice, the harder it is for essential elements of life, like oxygen and nutrients, to travel from the surface down to the ocean.
Europa may still have the right ingredients for life, but they’re locked behind an extremely thick, very cold door that may be nearly impossible for us to open and peer into anytime soon.
The findings provide some context for upcoming space missions, like NASA’s Europa Clipper and the European Space Agency’s JUICE spacecraft, both of which were headed toward Jupiter in the hope of, among other things, getting a better sense of whether there is life bubbling in its waters.
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