The new estimate is around 18 miles -- which is over 30% thicker than prior estimates. And it makes any "transport life" theorem less likely, to be sure.
Here's the latest, from JPL -- over 15 years of twisty, copper-colored, unwasted grace:
. . .Juno will carry out its 81st flyby of Jupiter on Feb. 25. . . .
[And it seems less likely that any organics from the surface could have been transported to the sub-ocean, to facilitate any micro-organism(s) under the ice.] MWR data. . . provides. . . insights into the makeup of the ice just below Europa’s surface. The instrument revealed the presence of “scatterers” — irregularities in the near-surface ice such as cracks, pores, and voids that scatter the instrument’s microwaves reflecting off the ice (similar to how visible light is scattered in ice cubes). These scatterers are estimated to be no bigger than a few inches in diameter and appear to extend to depths of hundreds of feet below Europa’s surface. . . .
The small size and shallow depth of these features, as modeled in this study, suggest they are unlikely to be a significant pathway for oxygen and nutrients to travel from Europa’s surface to its salty ocean. . . .
Fascinating -- onward.
नमस्ते
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