Four Galilean Moon: Life On Europa

One of four moons that contain basic elements of liquid, heat and nutrients which could potentially be habitable.

Ganymede is similar to Europa in that its surface is made of mainly ice, but it does have bits of rock here and there. Also like Europa, Ganymede is believed to have an ocean below its surface. The core is made of metallic iron while its middle layer is made of rock. In 1996, scientists discovered that Ganymede has a very thin oxygen atmosphere, but it is not thick enough to support life. With a surface temperature of -163 degrees Celsius, it would be a harsh environment to live in.

For a couple of our icy planets, scientists have theorized that we may not be able to land on our ice planets such as Europa and Enceladus. The most probable reason that we can’t land on these planets is because they would be to soft. The grains on top of the surfaces of these planets are about a fraction of a millimeter and are lighter than fresh snow. What this measures is only the surface so we don’t exactly know if it’s just the top surface or the whole planet. Naturally without more information, it wouldn’t be smart to attempt to land on either of these planets.

NASA Scientists have confirmed that Enceladus, the icy moon of Saturn, has a subsurface ocean that spans the entire globe. The discovery is on the heels of finding evidence of hydrothermal vents on Enceladus back in March.

R. Wagner Article Review of “Revealing Jupiter’s Inner Secrets” Jupiter is the largest, most massive, fastest spinning, most magnetized and most orbited planet in the solar system. For years scientists and astronomers have been estimating the inner workings of Jupiter underneath its distracting clouds. In 1995 they were finally able to find out some answers when the Galileo probe entered Jupiter’s atmosphere to take measurements. They decided to send up a probe, Juno, that would measure microwaves without getting trapped in the equatorial belt of energetic charged particles. Juno will measure the water and ammonia levels of Jupiter by using 6 different microwave wavelength ranges. Astronomers hope to learn many things from this probe including

NASA thinks there many be geothermal vents of heat underneath the rocks that would help develop life in the water. The evolution of life in this scenario would hardly be fast, but some believe that life in this stage could exist. This concept is far from ludicrous. If you think about the weird creatures that can tolerate extreme conditions in Earth’s oceans, then it’s quite plausible Pluto may have some strange beings of their own.

Subterranean Ocean. It is estimated that Europa has an outer layer of water around 100 km or 62 mi thick with a frozen crust around it. Heat from its tidal flexing allows its water to remain liquid. Its surface temp averages at -260f while the

Galileo spacecraft first discovered the four largest moon of Jupiter, called Io, Europa, Ganymede and Ganymede and Callisto. Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System Atmosphere And Planetary Composition: Temperature Range: The cloud-tops average 120 K=153*C=-244*F. Atmosphere: Jupiter is a gaseous planet; it does not have a solid surface like the Earth does (but probably has a solid, rocky core 10 to 15 times the mass of the Earth). When we look at Jupiter, we are seeing icy clouds of gases moving at high speeds in the atmosphere. Jupiter's atmosphere is composed of about 90% hydrogen and 10% helium.

The possibility of life on Europa (Davis, 2015) warrants further study of this moon of Jupiter. Before attempting to land a rover or probe on the surface, we should acquire more information as to the topography of Europa and as to the most geologically active areas in order to determine a safe landing area. Study of the moon's general features and properties may also prove enlightening, perhaps revealing further information about Europa's oceans, geological activity, and general formation. A small probe orbiting the moon could collect the prerequisite information for a probe landing, as well as provide more general

The keen interest in knowing whether there is water on the moon has helped inspire several recent lunar missions, partly to see if life is possible but also because any realistic chance of colonizing becomes less feasible. While liquid water cannot endure at the Moon's  harsh surface, ice is believed to have survived at the Moon's poles where it is eternally cold. But now there is evidence that there is perhaps a significant amount of water deep in the lunar interior in the layer between the crust and outer core. Researchers Ralph E. Milliken and Shuai Li at Brown University, have used light data and satellite imagery to measure the makeup of volcanic deposits scattered across the moon's mantle and calculated there is as much water as Earth’s

Jupiter was named so from the Roman god of the sky and thunder. It has about 67 moons and is the largest planet. It’s known for its Great Red Spot which is believed to be a massive hurricane with several hundred mile per hour windspeeds. The brown lines which circle the planet are areas of much cooler temperatures. The four most well-known moons are Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa.

In the study of space and space travel, one goal is ever-present in the minds of humanity. In a way, this one question is the underlying motive in all extra-terrestrial exploration: could there be life beyond the Earth? The question is asked again and again, with various theories from various people, but even with evidence of flowing water on Mars, evidence of life has yet to be found. However, as a possible answer to this timeless question, one celestial body stands out among the rest: the smallest of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, Europa. Europa, discovered in 1610 by Simon Marius and Galileo Galilei, has been the topic of many a science fiction story (such as 3001: The Final Odyssey) because of this possibility, and it’s because of this possibility that my story, and likely our future space exploration as a

As my destination approached I began to refresh my studies on Europa. Europa is a moon (11) (a celestial body that orbits around a planet) (Jupiter has 63 moons) (moons can also be described as a natural satellite) of the Galilean family orbiting Jupiter. Europa is similar in the size of the earth’s moon but slightly smaller (Europa’s mass 4.8 * 10^22 kg compared to the moon 7.3*10^22 kg). The surface is fairly new due to the lack of crater impacts. The surface has many crevices and cracks making it look like glaciers compressing and stretching. This is what brought scientists so curious. The stretching due to

Europa is one of these bodies which finds itself frozen, specifically, its surface is made of frozen water. However, Europa is fairly unique in that the surface water is frozen, but there is strongly believed to be sub-surface liquid water inside Europa. Finding liquid water in our solar system is a goal for many scientists across the world as it is believed water is a very strong indicator for possible life. Europa has a liquid water volume approximately double that of Earth. Based on deposits found on the surface of Europa, it seems that the water under the surface contains minerals, which means the water could be interacting with the surface floor, another good indicator for life possibly being viable there. Discovering life on another planet/moon would have huge implications in the science community and further advance our understanding of life in the universe. Europa could also aid humanities goal of solar exploration and colonization if it turns out that Europa is habitable to life. Some researchers are looking to utilize the massive quantities of liquid water under the Europan surface as a source of water for missions further in our solar

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and by far the largest mass object in the solar system of all the other planets. Jupiter is twice the size of all the other planets combined. It is as 318 times the sizes of earth. The distance that Jupiter orbits the sun is 778,330,000 km (Gallant pp154). The diameter is 142,984 km and the mass that it has is 1.900e27 kg. Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky after the Sun, the Moon and Venus. Mars is some times brighter. Galileo discovered Jupiter in 1610(Gallant); another interesting fact is that Jupiter has 4 large moons. Which are known as the Galilean moons. They were named Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The first mission that went to Jupiter was Pioneer 10 in 1973 and later