“Europa” .. Soon a moon from Mars may attract attention

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In an event that could forget the promising plans for mankind on Mars and around it, Europa, which orbits Jupiter, is one of the most promising worlds in the solar system to search for extraterrestrial life because it involves a fluid ocean. Lying under the ice layer ..

Although Europa is only a quarter of the diameter of the Earth, its oceans may contain twice as much water as our planet’s oceans. Wherever there is water, there is a chance of survival.

But in reality, finding out what alien life might be living in Europa would be a very difficult challenge. The moon’s crust is believed to be 10 to 15 miles thick. The Earth is 7.67 miles deep, the distance that humans have ever dug.

However, a new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications reveals that the ice crust may be more porous than previously thought, so it may not be as hard as we think. In fact, snow can be the location of many pockets of life.

Greenland .. Answer
New data collected using snow penetration radar shows the formation of ‘dual ridge’ features in Greenland ice – features also found in Europa. The researchers behind the new study believe that the mechanism by which these double ridges form in Greenland should be adapted to Europa, suggesting that there is more liquid water on this moon than we dreamed of.

“One of my colleagues in this study, a planetary scientist, gave a presentation on the big open questions about Europe and showed a picture of these double ridges on the surface,” said Riley Kolberg, a doctoral engineer at Stanford University. The new study told The Daily Beast. It struck me to see a similar search feature in my own data from Earth while working on a completely different project related to the effects of climate change on Greenland ice.

“We know that double ridges form in Greenland, and the ice breaks around pockets of compressed liquid water that freezes into ice, pushing the two peaks to a certain height,” he adds. These water pockets are shallow and help to make the ice more porous.

The researchers believe that the same mechanism explains the double ridges in Europa, i.e. the ice crust is dynamic and permeable, filled with shallow liquid water, which means that life is more likely to form on this moon.

Gல்பlberg warned that we could not confirm anything until we had the opportunity to study Europa directly. This could happen in the next decade as NASA plans to launch an orbital study called Europa Clipper in October 2024, and it is expected to reach the Jovian moon in April 2030. More about Europa’s ice crust – This will help to reveal that Europa is the best opportunity to search for aliens in the solar system.