Extraterrestrial Life on Europa
Does this Galilean Moon of Jupiter Harbor Simple Alien Creatures?
Dec 23, 2007 Paul A. Heckert
Europa's Icy Crust - NASA/JPL
Beneath an icy crust, Jupiter's moon Europa may have extensive oceans of water that rival Earth's. Did life develop there?
Europa is the second of Jupiter's four Galilean moons. It is a ball of icy and rocky materials about the size of Earth's moon. There may also be a small metallic core. The more dense rocky materials sank to the core, leaving the icy materials to dominate the crust and mantle.
Tidal heating from Jupiter warms Europa's interior. Hence beneath the frozen crust lies Europa's mantle containing an ocean of liquid water. Galileo spacecraft images of Europa's icy surface show large structures similar to pack-ice on Earth. The pack-ice is found above frozen seas on Earth, so it indicates that there is liquid water beneath Europa's frozen crust.
Water and Extraterrestrial Life
All the life forms we know on Earth require water for life. The bodies of living creatures contain a large percentage of water in their compositions. Most life forms on Earth will die quickly without water. Life on Earth may well have originated in Earth's oceans.
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