ICY SCIENCE: SCIENCE SPACE ASTRONOMY Spring 2014 | Page 33

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Jupiter’s ice-covered moon, Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL and Ted Stryk
The idea of the black and white smokers as being possible analogs for extraterrestrial life has been debated
very fiercely. The arguments really took off after Jupiter’s moon Europa was found to be covered with water ice,
cracked like an eggshell where fissures seemed to leak up fluid from below. Yes these extreme-heat vents have
amazing critters who don’t need the rest of us or any of our relations to live, who can just cling to rock in hot
water and be perfectly happy. It’s so easy to imagine a vibrant ecosystem of hydrothermal vents in an under-ice
sea on Europa, flourishing and oblivious to life on Earth. The main problem with this idea is that the black and
white smoker hydrothermal vents are very volatile, volcanic-based systems that may be around for only hundreds of years before the volcanic activity ends there and moves to another spot. And when it begins in another
ICY SCIENCE | QTR 2 SPRING 2014