Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa is one of a handful of worlds in our Solar System that could potentially harbour conditions suitable for life. Previous research has shown that beneath its water-ice crust lies a salty ocean of liquid water with a rocky seafloor. However, planetary scientists had not confirmed whether or not that ocean contained the chemicals needed for life, particularly carbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Astronomers using data from the NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have identified carbon dioxide in a specific region on the icy surface of Europa. Analysis indicates that this carbon likely originated in the subsurface ocean and was not delivered by meteorites or other external sources. Moreover, it was deposited on a geologically recent timescale. This discovery has important implications for the potential habitability of Europa\u2019s ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn Earth, life likes chemical diversity \u2013 the more diversity, the better. We\u2019re carbon-based life. Understanding the chemistry of Europa\u2019s ocean will help us determine whether it\u2019s hostile to life as we know it, or whether it might be a good place for life,\u201d said Geronimo Villanueva of NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, lead author of one of two independent papers describing the findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe now think that we have observational evidence that the carbon we see on Europa\u2019s surface came from the ocean. That\u2019s not a trivial thing. Carbon is a biologically essential element,\u201d added Samantha Trumbo of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, lead author of the second paper analysing this data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A surface-ocean connection<\/strong> \u201cPrevious observations from the Hubble Space Telescope show evidence for ocean-derived salt in Tara Regio,\u201d explained Trumbo. \u201cNow we\u2019re seeing that carbon dioxide is heavily concentrated there as well. We think this implies that the carbon probably has its ultimate origin in the internal ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cScientists are debating to what extent Europa\u2019s ocean connects to its surface. I think that question has been a big driver of Europa exploration,\u201d said Villanueva. \u201cThis suggests that we may be able to learn some basic things about the ocean\u2019s composition even before we drill through the ice to get the full picture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both teams identified the carbon dioxide using data from the integral field unit of Webb\u2019s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec). This instrument mode provides spectra with a resolution of 320 x 320 km over a field of view of diameter 3128 km on the surface of Europa, allowing astronomers to determine where specific chemicals are located. Carbon dioxide isn\u2019t stable on Europa\u2019s surface. Therefore, the scientists say it\u2019s likely that it was supplied on a geologically recent timescale \u2013 a conclusion bolstered by its concentration in a region of young terrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese observations only took a few minutes of the observatory\u2019s time,\u201d said Heidi Hammel of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, a Webb interdisciplinary scientist leading Webb\u2019s Cycle 1 Guaranteed Time Observations of the Solar System. \u201cEven in this short period of time, we were able to do really big science. This work gives a first hint of all the amazing Solar System science we\u2019ll be able to do with Webb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Searching for a plume<\/strong> The new Webb data show no evidence of plume activity, which allowed Villanueva\u2019s team to set a strict upper limit on the rate at which material is potentially being ejected. The team stressed, however, that their non-detection does not rule out a plume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is always a possibility that these plumes are variable and that you can only see them at certain times. All we can say with 100% confidence is that we did not detect a plume at Europa when we made these observations with Webb,\u201d said Hammel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These findings may help inform NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper mission, as well as ESA\u2019s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, which was launched on 14 April 2023. Juice will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons \u2013 Ganymede, Callisto and Europa \u2013 with a suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. The mission will characterise these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter\u2019s complex environment in depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a great first result of what Webb will bring to the study of Jupiter\u2019s moons,\u201d said co-author Guillaume Cruz-Mermy, formerly of Universit\u00e9 Paris-Saclay and current ESA Research Fellow at the Agency’s European Space Astronomy Centre. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to seeing what else we can learn about their surface properties from these and future observations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The results reinforce the importance of the Juice mission,” continues Guillaume. “With its MAJIS instrument, Juice will make it possible to observe the same surface over the same range of wavelengths but at a much greater spatial resolution and over a longer period of time, and therefore will further constrain the habitability condition of Europa.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two papers associated with this research will be published in Science on 21 September 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa is one of a handful of worlds in our Solar System…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[210,211,215,214],"class_list":["post-2362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-news","tag-indian-space-news","tag-space-magazines","tag-space-news-online","tag-space-news-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2376,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions\/2376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacepreneurmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Webb finds that on Europa\u2019s surface, carbon dioxide is most abundant in a region called Tara Regio \u2013 a geologically young area of generally resurfaced terrain known as \u2018chaos terrain\u2019. The surface ice has been disrupted, and there has likely been an exchange of material between the subsurface ocean and the icy surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Villanueva\u2019s team also looked for evidence of a plume of water vapour erupting from Europa\u2019s surface. Researchers using the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reported tentative detections of plumes in 2013, 2016, and 2017. However, finding definitive proof has been difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n