Scientists have known for some time that water oceans lie beneath Europa’s icy crust, but they didn’t know whether these oceans had the right chemistry to support life. But some time ago, observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) detected carbon dioxide originating from Europa’s salty liquid oceans.Therefore, this discovery of carbon, a vital element for living things, brings with it important implications that this satellite is potentially habitable.
Signs of life on Europa
Geronimo Villanueva, lead author of the study and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center scientist, said in a statement: “Life on Earth loves chemical diversity. We are a carbon-based life. “Understanding the chemistry of Europa’s ocean will help us determine whether it is conducive to life as we know it or whether it is a good place for life.”
Even more exciting, infrared observations with JWST’s NIRSpec instrument have determined that the carbon molecules did not arrive on Europa via asteroid impacts or other external sources. According to the statements made by the observation team, we have observational evidence that the carbon we see on the surface of Europa comes from the ocean.JWST observed that carbon dioxide around Europa, the smallest of Jupiter’s four large Galilean moons, is most abundant in a geologically young region called Tara Regio. The disruption of surface ice in this region, called the “chaos terrain,” suggests that material is exchanged between Europa’s icy surface and the subsurface ocean.
Previous observations from the Hubble Space Telescope showed evidence of ocean-derived salt in Tara Regio. Now we see that carbon dioxide is also concentrated there. This suggests that the likely ultimate source of carbon could be the inland ocean. However, the findings also have important implications for other future missions. NASA will launch the Europa Clipper spacecraft in October 2024, which will travel to the Jovian system (Jupiter and its moons) to conduct a detailed survey to determine whether Europa’s subsurface oceans could support life.JWST’s findings could also aid exploration of Jupiter and its moons by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission. JUICE is currently underway to study Europa and the other large Jovian moons Callisto and Ganymede in April 2023. It is thought that both of these moons have large oceans.
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