The Europa ocean on Jupiter's icy moon may have the Earth-like balance of chemical energy necessary for life even if the moon lacks volcanic hydrothermal activity, a new study says.
Europa is strongly believed to hide a deep ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy shell. Whether the Jovian moon has the raw materials and chemical energy in the right proportions to support biology is a topic of intense scientific interest.
The answer may hinge on whether Europa has environments where chemicals are matched in the right proportions to power biological process. Life on Earth exploits such niches.
In a new study scientists compared Europa's potential for producing hydrogen and oxygen with that of Earth, through processes that do not directly involve volcanism.
The balance of these two elements is a key indicator of the energy available for life. The study found that the amounts would be comparable in scale; on both worlds, oxygen production is about 10 times higher than hydrogen production.
The work draws attention to the ways that Europa's rocky interior may be much more complex and possibly Earth-like than people typically think, according to Steve Vance, a planetary scientist at JPL and lead author of the study.
No comments:
Post a Comment