Of Europa: New Evidence Of A Very Watery World, And Subsurface Pools... Enchanting Possibilities Of... New Life!

Unfortunately, I was detained on more mundane matters this morning, but now it is time (at lunch) to discuss the very-fetching possibilities of sub-surface and relatively warm water, sloshing under her fairly ice-skirted exterior (10 to 15 miles in thickness). Perhaps even moreso than Io or Enceledes, the moon Europa may be a candidate for extra-terrestrial life. . . because she has so much more water than our earlier models had posited.

Europa is now known to have more than double all the water in all the oceans combined, on Earth -- even though she is smaller than Jasoom (Earth). Will we ever see a "Bruce Willis / Armageddon" style mission to drill and find out? I for one am skeptical. But a robotic probe just might do the job, in the 2030s or so. We shall see. Here's the latest, courtesy our erstwhile (long-suffering!) anonymous readership:

. . .Subterranean pools of salty water may be commonplace on Jupiter’s moon, Europa, according to researchers who believe the sites could be promising spots to search for signs of life beyond Earth.

Evidence for the shallow pools, not far beneath the frozen surface of the Jovian moon, emerged when scientists noticed that giant parallel ridges stretching for hundreds of miles on Europa were strikingly similar to surface features discovered on the Greenland ice sheet.

If the extensive ice ridges that crisscross Europa formed in a similar way to those in Greenland, then pockets of subsurface water may be ubiquitous on the body and help circulate chemicals necessary for life from the icy shell down to the salty ocean that lurks far beneath. . . . .

It would be quite poetic, indeed if a world-lette Galileo long ago named after the lover of Zeus -- (and Newton accepted later as "Little Europe" -- in the classical Latin) is where we first find. . . non-Earth originating microbes. In sum, entirely. . . new life.

Whoosh -- onward, on a glorious Spring day. . . may hit the Lincoln Park Zoo, on my way out of the steel and glass canyons. . . if the rains hold off -- smiling, now. . . .



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