Posted on 11/08/2009 7:01:51 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
New research into Jupiter's fourth largest moon has revealed that the orbiting body contains enough oxygen to support complex, Earth-like lifeforms.
Though it has long been known that Europa has an oxygen-rich oceanic environment, this latest research indicates that the actual oxygen level found in the moon's copious bodies of water is up to 100 times greater than previously imagined. With oxygen being a key component for life as we know it, this discovery no doubt has scientists imagining adorable Spore-style critters swimming the frigid Europan waves, before running headlong into the cruel wall of reality.
As PhysOrg explains, though this could indicate alien beasts, there are still a number of logical hurdles to surmount before we can start budgeting cash to send teams of Firebats to boil any unfriendly looking lakes.
The global ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa contains about twice the liquid water of all the Earth's oceans combined. The chances for life there have been uncertain, because Europa's ocean lies beneath several miles of ice, which separates it from the production of oxygen at the surface by energetic charged particles (similar to cosmic rays). Without oxygen, life could conceivably exist at hot springs in the ocean floor using exotic metabolic chemistries, based on sulfur or the production of methane. However, it is not certain whether the ocean floor actually would provide the conditions for such life. Therefore a key question has been whether enough oxygen reaches the ocean to support the oxygen-based metabolic process that is most familiar to us. An answer comes from considering the young age of Europa's surface. Its geology and the paucity of impact craters suggests that the top of the ice is continually reformed such that the current surface is only about 50 million years old, roughly 1% of the age of the solar system.
In short, it seems that Europa is an excellent candidate for supporting extraterrestrial life, but realistically speaking, if there are any life forms up there, they are most likely very rudimentary (think: the same sort of single and multi-cellular organisms from which all life on Earth eventually evolved).
It's something of a bummer to realize that all that sweet, sweet oxygen is going to waste on the evolutionary equivalent of Magikarp, but it's also probably for the best. If Europa was home to Giger-esque living nightmares, it would only be a matter of time before we were all impregnated by ropey little spider creatures with absolutely no regard for our collective upper gastronomic tracts.
Ping.
If it can sustain human life, can we rename it planet Reagan and start a colony of displaced Americans? Beam me up from the BS going on in this country.
Funny you should ask. Jupiter's upper atmosphere is composed of about 88–92% hydrogen. Isn't that convenient?
Jupiter Gas and Quickie Mart, best fuel for Billions of miles.
As I understand it, the sea is extremely salty like the dead sea.
Rename it Rura-Carter and make it into a penal colony.
But, you would still need fuel to break those 2 Hydro and OYX atoms apart in water to get hydrogen.
LOL yep, hydrogen AND oxygen.
I am sure that the Sierra Club and the envirowackos are in the process of blocking any and all access to Europa and Jupiter, so you can forget that.
Sorry...this 50 million year thing etc etc...does not fit with Creation. Evolving from single cell? This type of guess work on the Jupiter’s moon is bound to be flawed if these same individuals think evolution could actually happen.
We haven’t even explored all of our own oceans yet and we got people wanting to go see what is under several miles of ice???
Why do scientists assume that the conditions for life have to be as they are here?
Whatever might be on their would have them for lunch.
Barry and Nancy are taking care of that. We can't afford to go.
Send Obama and tribe there - a one way ticket!
"ALL THESE WORLDS
ARE YOURS EXCEPT
EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO
LANDING THERE
USE THEM TOGETHER
USE THEM IN PEACE"
Good point.
Personally I’m almost hoping we don’t find life. In reality it would bring us to a dead stop. If we do find life, it better be damned primative if we are to have any chance of going near it.
Robert Forward’s “Saturn Rukh” lays out a pretty likely scenario of what would likely happen if we were to find intelligent life.
We need life we can eat, air we can breath, and water we can drink
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