Life on a moon?
Exploring
Europa
By Sherry Valare
On a clear night, you can see the planet Jupiter with nothing more than
your eyes, as it shines steady and bright against the background of glittering
stars. If you take a closer look through a telescope, you can see tiny specks
surrounding it. What if I told you that there may be life on one of these specks?
NASA is about to embark on a mission to explore yet another unexplained
part of the solar system. This search is spurred by the existence of a massive,
ice-covered, water world type moon, which could very possibly be the home
of a plethora of extraterrestrial aquatic life. This intriguing moon, filled with so
much possibility, belongs to Jupiter and its name is Europa.
It is finally time to find out exactly what is happening on this moon. NASA
announced earlier last year that they are going forth with a mission to this icy
world with high potential for housing life. According to Dr. Curt Niebur, program scientist on the Europa mission, there is an urban legend that back in
the 1990s at a science conference, a video conference was held with 2001: A
Space Odyssey author Arthur C. Clarke himself, who gave NASA his permission
to land on Europa, despite his original warning to avoid an attempt.
Europa is one of four large moons discovered by the astronomer Galileo,
four hundred years ago. Today, we now know that under its many miles of icy
crust, there may exist an environment highly conducive to supporting some
form of life. Just like our own Moon, as Europa orbits its planet, it undergoes
tidal flexing. This makes it flex and stretch. As this occurs, it warms the interior
of Europa with the heat it creates. It is possible that this action may be responsible for volcanic activity occurring – similar to the activity on another one of
the Galilean moons – Io.
Since the late 1990s when NASA’s Galileo mission gave scientists solid
evidence of a sub-surface ocean, it has been speculated that due to the
possible recipe of a saltwater ocean, a rocky sea floor, and the energy and
chemistry that tidal heating gives, Europa could be harboring life in the form
of simple organisms. When I asked Dr. Niebur if he thinks life exists on this moon,
he answered, “I don’t know. But I think that that’s the big question. What I
think, is that Europa is the most habitable place in our solar system, beyond
Earth.”
The idea behind the mission is to complete an assessment of Europa and
inspect its potential for harboring life. This mission concept is now going into
phase known as formulation – otherwise known as the development phase.
Here is how it will happen. In the 2020s, a spacecraft loaded with instruments and tools to conduct experiments will launch on a 6.5 year expedition heading towards planet Jupiter. Every two weeks, the satellite will travel
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