

Jupiter's Moon Europa May Have Enough Oxygen For Life - nate
http://www.physorg.com/news174918239.html

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100k
"All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landings there."

Man, I would love to see a probe that can find out if there is life on Europa
in my lifetime. That would be so amazing.

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zokier
Jupiters moons sure are interesting, but aren't they bit cold for life?

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lbrandy
Maybe, but not necessarily.

The heat on Europa would not come from the sun but from the gravitational
friction (tidal flexing) caused by Jupiter. This would likely cause quite a
bit of volcanic activity under the surface and possibly create deep underwater
vents. There is an analogue on earth in the deep ocean and the so-called
hydrothermal vents. There are ecosystems down there that exist without energy
from the sun.

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stcredzero
A lot of the bacteria by those vents get their energy from sulfur compounds.
Other creatures can then eat these bacteria.

Europan life is likely to be cold, damp, and smelly!

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ramanujan
The other moon of interest here is Titan, a moon of Saturn that has seasons
and surface liquid:

[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16626-europa-trumps-
ti...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16626-europa-trumps-titan-in-bid-
for-outer-planet-mission.html)

If you're interested in this kind of origin-of-life stuff, you might like "The
Universe" or "Evolve"

<http://www.history.com/content/universe>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolve_%28TV_series%29>

