Jupiter’s moon Europa may have less oxygen than expected, a finding that might put a damper on life

New analysis suggests there’s much less oxygen on the icy floor of Jupiter’s moon Europa than thought—and that would have an effect on what if any life is perhaps lurking within the moon’s underground ocean.

Even with little or no oxygen, microbes may nonetheless be bustling round within the ocean believed to exist miles (kilometers) beneath Europa’s frozen crust. As for what else, “who is aware of,” stated NASA scientist Kevin Hand, who was not concerned within the research printed Monday in Nature Astronomy.

Extra work is required to substantiate these findings, that are opposite to earlier telescope observations of condensed oxygen in Europa’s ice, indicating a better oxygen focus, stated Hand.

The brand new research is predicated on knowledge collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft throughout a very shut flyby of Europa in 2022—a distance of simply 219 miles (353 kilometers).

A U.S.-European staff calculated that between 13 kilos and 39 kilos (6 kilograms and 18 kilograms) of oxygen are produced each second at Europa’s floor.

Earlier estimates had a a lot wider unfold, with as a lot as 2,245 kilos (1,100 kilograms) of oxygen produced per second. So “except Europa’s oxygen manufacturing was considerably larger prior to now,” the brand new measurements present “a narrower vary to help habitability,” the researchers wrote.

This oxygen is fashioned, together with hydrogen, as Jupiter’s radiation blasts Europa’s world shell of frozen water.

Lead writer James Szalay of Princeton College stated Juno’s flyby was the primary time a spacecraft “straight sniffed” Europa’s environment. “We could not wait to peek backstage of its advanced setting,” he stated in an electronic mail.

Whereas it is “a considerably narrower vary than we beforehand thought, there’s nonetheless rather a lot we will study,” Szalay stated.

It is unknown how a lot oxygen escapes into the moon’s environment, how a lot stays within the ice and the way a lot may discover its method to the subterranean sea.

NASA plans to launch the Europa Clipper this fall. The spacecraft will make dozens of shut flybys of Europa—practically the scale of our moon—whereas orbiting the enormous fuel planet.

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