It is a long way from the Sun—more than five times farther than the distance between Earth and the Sun. If the ice shell of Europa is really only a few kilometers thick, this "thin ice" model would mean that regular contact of the liquid interior with the surface could occur through open ridges, causing the formation of areas of chaotic terrain. That increases the gravitational pull on Europa, and distorts its shape. Life Discovered in Buried Antarctic Lake. [33][34], Analysis of the unique cracks lining Europa yielded evidence that it likely spun around a tilted axis at some point in time. The most likely hypothesis is that the lineae on Europa were produced by a series of eruptions of warm ice as the Europan crust spread open to expose warmer layers beneath. Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa’s water-ice surface is crisscrossed by long, linear fractures, cracks, ridges, and bands. Europa's prime meridian is a line passing through this point. Obtaining samples of the ocean may not require drilling through the icy crust, should the repeated observations of possible plumes turn out to be actual jets of water. [92][93] Their results indicate that most of the heat generated by the ice actually comes from the ice's crystalline structure (lattice) as a result of deformation, and not friction between the ice grains. [32] Research suggests that the tidal locking may not be full, as a non-synchronous rotation has been proposed: Europa spins faster than it orbits, or at least did so in the past. The mission is expected to launch in 2022 and arrive at Jupiter's neighborhood in 2029 for at least a three-year mission. [86], Tidal heating occurs through the tidal friction and tidal flexing processes caused by tidal acceleration: orbital and rotational energy are dissipated as heat in the core of the moon, the internal ocean, and the ice crust. Also, the measurements were made at room temperature. A. Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with B. Europa has long … Continue reading "With surface temperatures estimated at…GMATPrep" [87], Ocean tides are converted to heat by frictional losses in the oceans and their interaction with the solid bottom and with the top ice crust. The most familiar weather in the solar system is actually on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. In 1892, the discovery of Amalthea, whose orbit lay closer to Jupiter than those of the Galilean moons, pushed Europa to the third position. [42], More ambitious ideas have been put forward including an impactor in combination with a thermal drill to search for biosignatures that might be frozen in the shallow subsurface. On Europa, it would take a jack hammer! [4][30], Europa orbits Jupiter in just over three and a half days, with an orbital radius of about 670,900 km. With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit, Jupiter’s moon Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom. By the time you reach gas giant Saturn and its beautiful rings, you are really far from the Sun – about 900 million miles. Similarly, every time Europa orbits Jupiter twice, Ganymede completes one orbit. The green oval also corresponds to a warm region on Europa's surface, as identified by the temperature map at right. Callisto is the 8th moon in distance from Jupiter and takes 17 days to make one complete orbit of the planet. This evidence of both crustal spreading at bands[57] and convergence at other sites[58] suggests that Europa may have active plate tectonics, similar to Earth. In a press release from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory referencing the study, these suggested sources for Europa's plumes would potentially be less hospitable to life. Models such as this suggest the outer elastic portion of the ice crust could be as thin as 200 metres (660 ft). [77] Sulfuric acid hydrate is another possible explanation for the contaminant observed spectroscopically. [169] Some scientists have speculated that life on Earth could have been blasted into space by asteroid collisions and arrived on the moons of Jupiter in a process called lithopanspermia.[170]. Europa is one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, along with Io, Ganymede and Callisto. [23] NASA's planned Europa Clipper should be launched in 2025. [90] Depending on the amount of tilt, the heat generated by the ocean flow could be 100 to thousands of times greater than the heat generated by the flexing of Europa's rocky core in response to gravitational pull from Jupiter and the other moons circling that planet. Series of 4 images of the surface of Europa taken with ALMA, enabling astronomers to create the first global thermal map of Jupiter's icy moon. A full revolution of the outer rigid shell relative to the interior of Europa takes at least 12,000 years. Schaber (1982) "Geology of Europa", in David Morrison, ed., Schenk, Paul M.; Chapman, Clark R.; Zahnle, Kevin; and Moore, Jeffrey M. (2004), Ringwald, Frederick A. All of Jupiter's moons are named for the god's lovers (or victims, depending on your point of view). Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei[1] and was named after Europa, the Phoenician mother of King Minos of Crete and lover of Zeus (the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter). Galileo, however, called the moons the Medicean planets in honor of the Medici family. [31] Like its fellow Galilean satellites, Europa is tidally locked to Jupiter, with one hemisphere of Europa constantly facing Jupiter. [31][47] This indicates a young and active surface: based on estimates of the frequency of cometary bombardment that Europa experiences, the surface is about 20 to 180 million years old. This possibility of extraterrestrial life is one of the reasons interest in Europa remains high. A prominent feature of Europa is its high degree of reflectivity. [79], Another hypothesis for the colored regions is that they are composed of abiotic organic compounds collectively called tholins. [88][89], Tidal flexing kneads Europa's interior and ice shell, which becomes a source of heat. NY 10036. [72][73], The thin-ice model suggests that Europa's ice shell may be only a few kilometers thick. It takes Europa three and a half Earth-days to orbit Jupiter. The discovery not only had astronomical, but also religious implications. Galileo (orbited Jupiter between 1995-2003). The temperature of Ganymede is a literal killer. [148][149], Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) was a partially developed fission-powered spacecraft with ion thrusters that was cancelled in 2006. There was a problem. Get breaking space news and the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! Europa is the smallest of the four but it is one of the more intriguing satellites. New York, Also, the measurements were made at room temperature. It is also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System. The field strength at the magnetic equator (about 120 nT) created by this magnetic moment is about one-sixth the strength of Ganymede's field and six times the value of Callisto's. Galileo Galilei discovered Europa on Jan. 8, 1610. 17. It is tidally locked to Jupiter in its orbit and spins faster on its axis than it orbits. [71] This leads to a volume of Europa's oceans of 3 × 1018 m3, between two or three times the volume of Earth's oceans. Evidence suggests that hydrogen peroxide is abundant across much of the surface of Europa. Exploration of Europa was ranked as the highest-priority mission. This interpretation is controversial. 0 1. It was the discovery of Europa that helped scientists to realize that Earth was not the center of our … Instead, most of the ocean may Europa's icy crust gives it an albedo — light reflectivity — of 0.64, one of the highest of all of the moons in the entire solar system. This may be important in determining if Europa could be habitable. [130][161] Even if Europa lacks volcanic hydrothermal activity, a 2016 NASA study found that Earth-like levels of hydrogen and oxygen could be produced through processes related to serpentinization and ice-derived oxidants, which do not directly involve volcanism. [154][155], Another proposal put forward in 2001 calls for a large nuclear-powered "melt probe" (cryobot) that would melt through the ice until it reached an ocean below. [165] Life on Europa could exist clustered around hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, or below the ocean floor, where endoliths are known to inhabit on Earth. [60] The smooth, dark spots could be formed by meltwater released when the warm ice breaks through the surface. Europa NASA image from Galileo orbiter.. Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, is about 3,160 kilometers (1,950 miles) in diameter, or about the size of Earth's moon.This image was taken on September 7, 1996, at a range of 677,000 kilometers (417,900 miles) by the solid state imaging television camera onboard the Galileo spacecraft during its second orbit around Jupiter. At the … For the spaceship in the 1960s television series Lost in Space, see, Europa's trailing hemisphere in approximate natural color. The largest impact structures are surrounded by concentric rings and appear to be filled with relatively flat, fresh ice; based on this and on the calculated amount of heat generated by Europan tides, it is estimated that the outer crust of solid ice is approximately 10–30 km (6–19 mi) thick,[70] including a ductile "warm ice" layer, which could mean that the liquid ocean underneath may be about 100 km (60 mi) deep. Frost is common on rocks during nights, but it melts and evaporates as the air get warmer near dawn. Its surface is striated by cracks and streaks, but craters are relatively few. [28], The names fell out of favor for a considerable time and were not revived in general use until the mid-20th century. They are planet-sized, ranging from slightly smaller than the Earth's Moon (in the case of Europa) to larger than the planet Mercury (in the case of Ganymede). Portions of the crust are estimated to have undergone a rotation of nearly 80°, nearly flipping over (see true polar wander), which would be unlikely if the ice were solidly attached to the mantle. Europa was courted by Zeus and became the queen of Crete. Molecular hydrogen never reaches the surface, as it is light enough to escape Europa's surface gravity. That's almost twice as far out as Jupiter. Instrument payload could include a radio subsystem, laser altimeter, magnetometer, Langmuir probe, and a mapping camera. [18][100][101] It has been suggested that if they exist, they are episodic[102] and likely to appear when Europa is at its farthest point from Jupiter, in agreement with tidal force modeling predictions. "Galileo Spacecraft Finds Europa has Atmosphere", The Journey to Jupiter: Extended Tours – GEM and the Millennium Mission, "Projects: Europa Mission Campaign; Campaign Update: 2007 Budget Proposal", "Lean U.S. missions to Mars, Jupiter moon recommended", "NASA gets some funding for Mars 2020 rover in federal spending bill", "JPL's Mars 2020 rover benefits from spending bill", "NASA's Europa Mission Begins with Selection of Science Instruments", "Future spacecraft landing on Jupiter's moon Europa may have to navigate jagged blades of ice", "Jagged ice spikes cover Jupiter's moon Europa, study suggests", "Small RPS-Enabled Europa Lander Mission", "NASA and ESA Prioritize Outer Planet Missions", "Planetary protection for a Europa surface sample return: The Ice Clipper mission", Abelson & Shirley – Small RPS-Enabled Europa Lander Mission (2005), "Latest Galileo Data Further Suggest Europa Has Liquid Ocean", "Alternative energy sources could support life on Europa", "Bacterial explanation for Europa's rosy glow", "Europa's Ocean May Have An Earthlike Chemical Balance", "NASA Aiming for Multiple Missions to Jupiter Moon Europa", NASA – Mapping the Chemistry Needed for Life at Europa, "Clay-Like Minerals Found on Icy Crust of Europa", "Life Could Have Hitched a Ride to Outer Planet Moons", Preventing Forward Contamination of Europa, Images of Europa at JPL's Planetary Photojournal, Paul Schenk's 3D images and flyover videos of Europa and other outer Solar System satellites, Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence, Gauss's Pythagorean right triangle proposal, Potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact, List of microorganisms tested in outer space, Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), Habitability of K-type main-sequence star systems, Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability, Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets, European Astrobiology Network Association, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Europa_(moon)&oldid=1014196524, CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2021, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing explicitly cited English-language text, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 25 March 2021, at 18:29.
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