Europa’s hidden ocean under new scrutiny<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Europa is thought to wear a shell of ice around 10 to 15 miles thick, with a global ocean that may stretch another 60 miles down. Even though the moon is a bit smaller than Earth\u2019s own moon<\/a>, that huge water layer means Europa likely holds more liquid water than our entire planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientists have long imagined that this ocean might resemble Earth\u2019s deep seas in some ways. On our planet, hot springs and vents on the seafloor feed rich ecosystems that can survive without sunlight, powered only by chemical energy rising from below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If Europa had similar vents, it could, in theory, offer a home for microbes clinging to rocky outcrops far beneath the ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Byrne and his colleagues did not have a submarine to send into Europa\u2019s ocean, so they turned to physics and geology instead. They combined what is known about the moon\u2019s size, the makeup of its rocky interior, and the strength of Jupiter\u2019s pull, then compared that picture with what we see on Earth and on our own moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the heart of their work is a simple idea. Tectonic motion<\/a> is the slow shifting of rigid plates of rock, like the plates that make up Earth\u2019s crust, driven by heat from inside a planet or moon. The team calculated that any heat from Europa\u2019s rocky core would have leaked away billions of years ago, leaving the interior too cool and rigid for that kind of movement today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They also examined tidal heating, which happens when gravity flexes a world again and again. On Jupiter\u2019s inner moon Io<\/a> this process is extreme, fueling constant eruptions that make Io the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Europa orbits farther out on a more even path, so the study concludes that tides there are too weak to keep the seafloor geologically lively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putting those pieces together, the researchers argue that Europa\u2019s seafloor likely has little or no active faulting, volcanism, or hot hydrothermal vents. Byrne put it bluntly, saying that if a remote control submarine could cruise along the bottom of the ocean there, it probably would not see fresh fractures, erupting volcanoes, or jets of hot water rising from the rocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his view, such a still environment matters because life, at least as we know it, usually needs a steady source of energy. On Earth, deep ocean communities thrive near vents where hot, mineral-rich water gushes out of the crust, providing fuel for microbes at the very base of the food chain. A cold, stable seafloor with little heating from below would struggle to power similar ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For that reason, the study suggests that today\u2019s Europa may not offer the right mix of heat and chemistry for life to gain a foothold at the seafloor. Byrne notes that the energy simply does not seem to be there to support living organisms in the present era, although the moon\u2019s past conditions might have been different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the sobering results, interest in Europa is not fading. The Europa Clipper <\/a>spacecraft is scheduled to fly by the moon in the spring of 2031, taking close up images of the surface and measuring the thickness of the ice and the depth of the ocean with far greater precision. That mission, championed in part by planetary scientist Bill McKinnon and colleagues at the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences<\/a>, is expected to provide a much sharper look at how this world works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those measurements will test the new study\u2019s predictions about Europa\u2019s interior and could reveal subtle signs of activity that current models miss. Byrne says he is eager to see what the mission finds, even if the final result is a largely lifeless ocean under the ice. He remains convinced that life exists somewhere in the universe, even if it turns out to be a hundred light years away rather than just beyond Jupiter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of the day, this work narrows the options for where life might hide in our own solar system while sharpening the tools scientists use to hunt for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The main study has been published in Nature Communications<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For years, Europa has been the poster child for the idea of hidden oceans that might support alien life. Buried … <\/p>\n![\"Cutaway](\"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/europa-ice-shell-cutaway-juno-microwave-radiometer-sept-29-2022.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
How the team modeled the seafloor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Read More: Scientists are issuing a warning about Earth’s distant future: in about 200 to 250 million years, a new supercontinent could emerge, bringing with it brutal climate change on a planetary scale<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
A quiet seafloor and the chances for life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Read More: The U.S. government shuts down again and millions of people fear for their Social Security checks, but the agency responds with six words that bring immediate relief<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Europa Clipper and the next wave of answers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Read More: Millions of people could face fines of up to $680 for failing to meet the most important tax deadline of the year, which expired on January 31<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n