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Discovery Increases Odds of Life On Europa
tetrahedrassface writes "Observations of spectral emissions from the surface of Europa using state of the art ground based telescopes here on Earth have lent data that indicate the surface of the Jovian moon is linked with the vast ocean below. The observations carried out by Caltech's Mike Brown and JPL's Kevin Hand show that water is making it from the ocean below all the way up to the surface of the moon. In their study (PDF) they noticed a dip in the emission bands around lower latitudes of the moon, and quickly honed in on what they were seeing. The mineral of interest is epsomite, a magnesium sulfate compound that can only come from the ocean below. From the article: 'Magnesium should not be on the surface of Europa unless it's coming from the ocean,' Brown says. 'So that means ocean water gets onto the surface, and stuff on the surface presumably gets into the ocean water.' Not only does this mean the ocean and surface are dynamically interacting, but it also means that there may be more energy in the ocean than previously thought. Another finding is that the ocean below the icy surface of Europa is basically very similar to an ocean on Earth, giving the neglected and premier solar body for life past Earth another compelling reason for being explored."
and a series of flybys began in the 1970s. Pioneer 10 and 11 visited Jupiter in 1973 and 1974 respectively.
Two Voyager probes traveled through the Jovian system in 1979 providing more detailed images of Europa's icy surface. The images caused many scientists to speculate about the possibility of a liquid ocean underneath.
Starting in 1995, the Galileo probe began a Jupiter orbiting mission that lasted for eight years, until 2003, and provided the most detailed examination of the Galilean moons to date. It included, Galileo Europa Mission and Galileo Millennium Mission, with numerous close flybys of Europa.
Neglected indeed.
Not.
(Paraphrased from Wikipedia)
Sent from my ENIAC
It doesn't matter how well you do in your endeavours if we continuously push 'Chance of life' as a way to get the general public interested. How many times do you think the public can hear about 'Nope, nothing there' when the original headline was 'Amazing new possible discovery that will rock the foundations of the space program". Don't get me wrong, I find the concept of alien geology to be very interesting and love these stories, but please cut back on the 'hints/signs/rumor/promise of life' in headlines.
Before anyone responds with "But we have to make it interesting for the unwashed masses...", I'm going to preempt that with the fact that you don't want space exploration to be relegated to the same 'Overhype/Overpromise' location in the collective consciousness currently reserved for late night infomercials and miracle health products.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
Or maybe just cracks in the ice caused by tidal changes. Then water down below would sublimate. rise to the surface. and freeze. Maybe the vapour would carry some metals with it. Magnesium is a good construction material BTW.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Sadly, so did I, thinking that they finally left Leeds and discovered the existence of Amsterdam.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
I was more disturbed by the mention of "lent data" from ground based telescopes, which sounds like certain kinds of data collection were given up until Easter.
Almost certain he gets more probing as well.
Sent from my ENIAC
"lent data"??? "honed in"????
Not sure what's up with "lent data". (Typo of "sent data"? Odd translation of an idiom from a non-English language?)
I've heard the "honed in" misusage a lot. It seems to be a Mondegreen> from "homed in" (like a homing pigeon.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Just spread the rumor that Europan whales make the best sushi in the Universe and the Japanese will launch a mission to Europa within the year. As an added bonus Iceland would start a space program.
Tidal forces seem like a good culprit, considering the extreme gravitational forces involved.
Europa is too far away. We should just send it on a crash course for mars. By the time it gets there we will have found a way to thicken up the atmosphere a bit so the water doesn't evaporate right away.
Do you plan to do the pushing?
No kidding on "by the time it gets there". It will take a LOT of pushing to get it up out of Jupiter's orbit and then downhill to an impact orbit with Mars.
After that Mars will be too hot for life for a long time.
Meanwhile, if there is life on Europa OR Mars, you've just created an extinction (event or two) of total-biosphere magnitude. Here's hoping nobody does that to Earth.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
All these worlds
Are yours except
Europa
Attempt no
Landing there
It's things like Europa and robots on Mars that make me want to punch the 'Cry, cry, we need to put a man back on the moon, because something!' crowd.
Was the Apollo program a heroic piece of engineering? No question. But does the moon have any major virtues aside from being close enough to man-in-a-can with relatively primitive life support gear? It's a hostile, sterile rock with not a whisper of atmosphere(and conveniently close and well-lit for the telescope crew). We have basically no reason to suspect that it has, or ever had, anything approaching life. Mars is a practically shirtsleeves environment by comparison, and Europa is under serious suspicion of having some serious organic chemistry going down under the ice. What sort of grainy, sepia-toned nostalgia wankfest would have us putzing around the moon, again, when there is other cool stuff to poke at?
Tidal forces seem like a good culprit, considering the extreme gravitational forces involved.
Which is interesting because enough gravitational heating of the moon's core to keep an ocean liquid suggests the possibility of life even in the absence of sunlight, just as is found in some deep oceans on earth. I suppose its possible for there to be enough infrared near thermal vents, but by and large, you would expect any putative life to have evolved completely without any form of photoreceptors, let alone eyes.
Some clever minds are probably already at work conceptualizing payload packages to investigate these cracks for an under-ice rover.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Came for the 2001 reference. Left satisfied (Eventually. I mean, WTF, mentioning both 'Discovery' and 'Europa' in the title, and a 2001 reference wasn't the frost piss?)
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
"lent data"??? "honed in"????
Not sure what's up with "lent data". (Typo of "sent data"? Odd translation of an idiom from a non-English language?)
I've heard the "honed in" misusage a lot. It seems to be a Mondegreen> from "homed in" (like a homing pigeon.)
Lent is the past tense of lend. Data from one discovery was lent to a totally different theory.
Honed in is fairly common usage when working toward a goal.
The so called "translation" is from a language called English, with which it appears you are only tangentially acquainted.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
An under-ice rover isn't likely in the near future, as estimates of the ice thickness range from 30km to at least a few kilometers.
cokane.com
My God! It's full of Starfish!!!
Rule of Acquisition #19: Satisfaction is Not guaranteed.
Please recall this article about "panspermia". It means that we are practically certain to find Earth-originated life-forms down there in the ocean of Europa. If life originated there independently of Earth, there might not be any evidence of it left!
Given that this thread mentioned using an RTG (a Radioisotope Thermal Generator, which is just an electrical generator that operates off of waste heat produced by a radioactive material decaying), it seems like the solution here is pretty obvious, even if it might be a painfully slow.
And you've sentenced them to extinction by sushi?
When they're approaching they'll get a message reading:
'Hone' means to focus in or to work towards a specific goal, and is listed in reputable print dictionaries (i.e. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hone%20in). Honed in is the past tense of hone in. It is true that some people think it is wrong, and that opinion is open to debate, as it should be for any living language. But the deciding factor is whether the intent of the phase is understood by the majority of readers. Since it is in common use, it follows that it has become accepted phraseology.
Actually, I have a distinct recollection of how some Nasa engineer had a probe design in mind that would work. It would melt itself through several kilometers of ice in a few months and leave a cable behind connecting it to a transmitter on the surface. I don't think it's too hard for engineers that are capable of constructing such a probe to stick a couple of propellers on it for diving. Although, I don't know about appropriate precautions to prevent it from ending up as an appetizer for some Europian super sharks. Maybe mirrors to reflect lasers..?
It would be extermely interesting biochemically, would probably be made up of different organic compound than earth life.
Reporting from Europe. Can confirm life. Intelligence yet to be confirmed.
FTFY
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
If there is life in the ocean under the ice and if there are interactions with the surface then it could be possible to find evidence of life from the chemical composition of the surface ice in selected areas. We should send an orbiting probe to determine the most likely spots and then send a lander.
While I would love for NASA to send a submarine, just trying to imagine the engineering effort makes my head spin. It's possible but would cost tens of billions and the chances for failure for something that complex is very high. Not very likely to get the green light with current budgets.
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.