Potential Extraterrestrial Life on Jupiter’s Moon

For centuries, people have been wondering about life outside of our planet. Recently, Mars is where we’ve been exploring most thoroughly because it’s nearby and we know there is water there. However, according to leading space scientists, there may be an even bigger potential for life on Europa, one of Jupiter’s largest moons.

Renowned expert Monica Grady says it’s “almost a racing certainty” there is life on Europa and is a strong believer there is probably extraterrestrial life as close as our own solar system. For a body to host life as we know it, there are three basic requirements: liquid water, chemical building blocks, and an energy source. There is reason to believe that Europa has all three.

Europa has a surface layer of ice covering the entire moon. There is evidence supporting the theory that there are oceans under the ice, and in this case, there could be life down there. Although Europa has no atmosphere, the thick ice blocks the bombardment of radiation coming from the sun and the vacuum of space.

One of the most popular hypotheses about the origin of life on Earth is that the earliest organisms thrived off of the nutrients being spewed out by hydrothermal vents at the bottom of our oceans. If Europa has oceans, there’s a good chance there are hydrothermal vents at the bottom of them too. Hydrothermal vents are where the heat from the molten core of the planet seeps through the solid rock layer, and they release a lot of nutrients and minerals. Even here on Earth, life thrives at the bottom of the ocean, despite its lack of sunlight. So, thermal vents on Europa are potentially crucial for extraterrestrial life.

As for energy, Europa is pretty far from the sun and the miles-thick ice blocks what light does get through. However, Europa is one of Jupiter’s many moons, and the gravitational effects of both other moons and Jupiter itself cause the internal movement of Europa. As the Earth’s oceans are pulled by the moon to form tides, so to are Europa’s oceans rocked by the gravitational pull of not only one moon, but dozens, plus the largest planet in our solar system. This kind of pull affects Europa to its core, and it is thought the internal friction may generate enough heat to live by, under the ice.

There have been reports of plumes coming from Europa’s surface. Though they haven’t yet been confirmed, the plumes have reportedly been spotted with telescopes a few times. These plumes are most likely water from the oceans shooting up in bursts through cracks in the ice. This gives us an opportunity to analyze the water in these bursts for signs of life if we got close enough to them.

NASA has plans to do just this, though it’s been in the works for a couple of years already and is not going to launch for another five to ten years. The mission, called the Europa Clipper, is going to consist of 45 flybys and has nine different specialized tools.

According to Professor Grady, life on Europa may be relatively evolved. In fact, she suggests they may even resemble octopuses. This comparison may not be far off, as Europa is about four and a half billion years old. That’s plenty of time for life to evolve into something more complex than bacteria. This is different than possible Martian life, which would have to be small enough to live in crevices and cracks underground in order to avoid radiation poisoning. Hypothetical Europan life has vast oceans in which to evolve.

While all this is exciting, we won’t know what, if anything, lives under this ice for some time. Assuming we detect biosignatures in our upcoming flybys, we still have a long way to go before we know what’s really there.