A brand new ASU research reveals Jupiter’s moon Europa might have had a gradual evolution. Europa is barely smaller than Earth’s moon and is among the most promising locations to seek for alien life in our photo voltaic system.
This research implies there could also be restricted hydrothermal exercise and seafloor volcanism on Europa, which can hinder habitability, however extra analysis is required. In October 2024, NASA plans to launch a spacecraft referred to as Europa Clipper, which ought to arrive at Europa in April 2030 to judge Jupiter’s icy moon for the potential circumstances to host life.
The latest work by Kevin Trinh, a graduate scholar in Planetary Science at ASU, Joe O’Rourke, a Assistant Professor within the Faculty of Earth and House Exploration at ASU, and a 3rd researcher, Carver Bierson, will assist scientists to be higher outfitted to interpret incoming knowledge from NASA’s Europa Clipper.
“Europa is way smaller than Earth. By way of how a lot Europa weighs, it’s mass is about 1/one hundredth of that of Earth. It’s a tiny place. Although it’s actually small, it might have twice as a lot water as all of Earth’s oceans mixed, which is a part of why Europa is a really fascinating moon,” Trinh mentioned.
“Water is particular, and once you get to excessive pressures, water truly melts at decrease temperatures. Numerous these icy moons out within the outer photo voltaic system, it’s actually chilly on the floor, however beneath, they’re icy shells which have these massive oceans of liquid water,” O’Rourke mentioned.
In accordance with Trinh, Europa has 4 layers: ice shell, liquid subsurface ocean, hydrated seafloor and rocky mantle.
“One of many issues we did within the research was put a query mark on this metallic core. Our argument is that Europa is small, so not like Earth, it might not have fashioned with a metallic core, and it must expertise a considerable evolution earlier than it might type a metallic core,” Trinh mentioned.
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