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This color view of Jupiter’s moon Europa was captured by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. Scientists are studying the processes that affect the surface as they prepare to explore the frozen body. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute
Jupiter Europa’s moon and its world ocean may currently have conditions suitable for life. Scientists are studying the processes on the icy surface as they prepare to explore.
It’s easy to see the impact of space debris on our Moon, where the ancient battered surface is covered in craters and scars. Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, withstands a similar shock, as well as a blast of super intense radiation. As the top surface of the icy moon flips over, matter brought to the surface is zapped by high-energy electron radiation accelerated by Jupiter.
NASA-funded scientists are studying the cumulative effects of small impacts on Europe’s surface as they prepare to explore the distant moon with the Europa Clipper mission and investigate the possibilities of a future lander mission. Europa is of particular scientific interest because its salty ocean, which lies beneath a thick layer of ice, may currently have conditions suitable for existing life. This water could even make its way through the icy crust and onto the moon’s surface.
New research and modeling estimate how far this surface is disturbed by the process called “impact gardening”. The work, published July 12 in Nature Astronomy, estimates that Europe’s surface has been agitated by small impacts to an average depth of about 12 inches (30 centimeters) over tens of millions of years. And any molecules that can be categorized as potential biosignatures, which include chemical signs of life, could be affected at that depth.
In this magnified image of the surface of Europe, captured by NASA’s Galileo mission, the thin, shiny layer visible on top of a cliff in the center shows the type of areas roughened by impact gardening. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
This is because the impacts would cause some material to rise to the surface, where the radiation would likely break the bonds of any potential large and delicate molecules generated by biology. During this time, some material on the surface would be pushed down, where it could mix with the basement.
“If we hope to find pristine chemical biosignatures, we’ll have to look below the area where the impacts have been gardened,” said lead author Emily Costello, a planetary research scientist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Chemical biosignatures in areas shallower than this area may have been exposed to destructive radiation.”
Go further
While impact gardening has long been seen as likely taking place on Europe and other airless bodies in the solar system, the new modeling provides the most complete picture of the process to date. In fact, it is the first to take into account the secondary impacts caused by the debris falling on the surface of Europe after being lifted by a first impact. Research shows that mid to high latitudes in Europe would be less affected by the double whammy of impact gardening and radiation.
“This work expands our understanding of fundamental processes on surfaces across the solar system,” said Cynthia Phillips, Europa scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and co-author of the study. “If we are to understand the physical characteristics and how planets evolve in general, we have to understand the role that gardening has in reshaping them. “
Managed by JPL for NASA, Europa Clipper will help develop this understanding. The spacecraft, targeting a launch in 2024, will perform a series of close flights of Europe in orbit around Jupiter. It will carry instruments to study the moon in depth, as well as to sample dust and gases that are projected above the surface.
Learn more about the mission
Missions such as Europa Clipper contribute to the field of astrobiology, interdisciplinary research into the variables and conditions of distant worlds that might harbor life as we know it. Although Europa Clipper is not a life-detecting mission, it will perform a detailed reconnaissance of Europa and determine if the frozen moon, with its subterranean ocean, has the capacity to support life. Understanding the habitability of Europe will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential to find life beyond our planet.
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL is leading the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for the NASA Science Missions Directorate in Washington. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, performs program management for the Europa Clipper mission.
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