How much water does Europa have?

How much water does Europa have?

Scientists think Europa’s ice shell is 10 to 15 miles (15 to 25 kilometers) thick, floating on an ocean 40 to 100 miles (60 to 150 kilometers) deep. So while Europa is only one-fourth the diameter of Earth, its ocean may contain twice as much water as all of Earth’s oceans combined. The potential habitats for life on Europa are the ice layer, the brine ocean, and the seafloor environment. The dual stresses of lethal radiation and low temperatures on or near the icy surface of Europa preclude the possibility of biological activity anywhere near the surface. That amount of oxygen would be enough to support more than just microscopic life-forms: At least three million tons of fishlike creatures could theoretically live and breathe on Europa, said study author Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona in Tucson. Temperatures range from as high as approximately 140 Kelvin (about -210 degrees Fahrenheit) in dark material at the moon’s equator to as low as approximately 50 Kelvin (-370 degrees Fahrenheit) in bright icy patches at the moon’s poles. Learn more about Europa here. How far away is Europa from the Sun? Europa’s gravity is only about 13 percent of Earth’s, resulting in a virtually nonexistent atmosphere. Because of this, Europa, like Earth’s moon, has no weather, wind or sky colors. And walking on Europa would feel similar to walking on Earth’s moon.

Can we live on Europa?

The type of life that might inhabit Europa likely would not be powered by photosynthesis – but by chemical reactions. Europa’s surface is blasted by radiation from Jupiter. That’s a bad thing for life on the surface – it couldn’t survive. Europa has an extremely thin oxygen atmosphere — far too thin for humans to breathe. Scientists are almost certain that hidden beneath the icy surface of Europa is a saltwater ocean thought to contain about twice as much water as Earth’s global ocean. It may be the most promising place in our solar system to find present-day environments suitable for some form of life beyond Earth. It might be pure water, but if the core of Europa is rocky, that means there’s an ocean floor in contact with it. On Earth, minerals from the crust mix with the ocean water, making it salty. Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) have identified the presence of an extremely tenuous atmosphere of molecular oxygen around Jupiter’s second moon, Europa.

Could Titan have life?

Thus, Titan could potentially harbor environments with conditions suitable for life—meaning both life as we know it (in the subsurface ocean) and life as we don’t know it (in the hydrocarbon liquid on the surface). Potential for Life Saturn’s environment is not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to. Potential for Life The surface of Pluto is extremely cold, so it seems unlikely that life could exist there. At such cold temperatures, water, which is vital for life as we know it, is essentially rock-like. Pluto’s interior is warmer, however, and some think there could even be an ocean deep inside. It is unlikely that life as we know it could survive on Mercury due to solar radiation, and extreme temperatures. Among the stunning variety of worlds in our solar system, only Earth is known to host life.

What planet besides Earth has water?

But Earth is the only known planet (or moon) to have consistent, stable bodies of liquid water on its surface. In our solar system, Earth orbits around the sun in an area called the habitable zone. Earth: Lots of water in all forms (liquid, ice, vapour). Jupiter: Water in frozen and vapour form. Saturn: Water in frozen and vapour form. Uranus: Frozen water. Jupiter cannot support life as we know it. But some of Jupiter’s moons have oceans beneath their crusts that might support life. This may be the case inside Europa (Jupiter) and Enceladus (Saturn), but chemical reactions with the rock would make the liquid water salty, so not good to drink. Jupiter. Jupiter doesn’t have a solid surface, but its atmosphere contains water vapor. Jupiter’s moons harbor a lot of ice in many forms. Ganymede has water ice on the surface, and likely has a large ocean of salty liquid water deep in the subsurface.

How cold is Europa at night?

The temperature on Europa varies from −160 °C at the equatorial line, to −220 °C at either of its poles. As Europa revolves around the gas giant, the icy moon’s interior flexes. The flexing forces energy into the moon’s interior, which then seeps out as heat (think of how repeatedly bending a paperclip generates heat). The more the moon’s interior flexes, the more heat is generated. A recent study by Murthy Gudipati and Bryana Henderson at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory along with Fred Bateman at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, looked at Europa’s potential habitability and discovered something quite spectacular: the icy moon may glow in the dark. Humans exposed to this level of radiation for one day would have greater than a 50% mortality rate within 30 days. Another problem is that the surface temperature of Europa averages around 90K, or -183 °C. Furthermore, the low gravity of Europa may also present challenges to colonization efforts. None of the known terrestrial extremophile bacteria could survive the harsh conditions of Europa’s surface. They possibly could live in the supposed liquid ocean under Europa’s ice crust, however.