NASA scientists have found evidence through laboratory experiments that the dark material partially dusting the surface of Jupiter's ice-covered moon, Europa, may be sea salt from a subsurface ocean.
Sea salt on Europa's surface suggests that its ocean is interacting with its seafloor, which, according to NASA, is a positive indication towards finding out whether the moon could support life.
“We have many questions about Europa, the most important and most difficult to answer being is there life? Research like this is important because it focuses on questions we can definitively answer, like whether or not Europa is inhabitable,” said Curt Niebur, Outer Planets Program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Once we have those answers, we can tackle the bigger question about life in the ocean beneath Europa’s ice shell.”
Continue reading…
Continue reading...
Sea salt on Europa's surface suggests that its ocean is interacting with its seafloor, which, according to NASA, is a positive indication towards finding out whether the moon could support life.
“We have many questions about Europa, the most important and most difficult to answer being is there life? Research like this is important because it focuses on questions we can definitively answer, like whether or not Europa is inhabitable,” said Curt Niebur, Outer Planets Program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Once we have those answers, we can tackle the bigger question about life in the ocean beneath Europa’s ice shell.”
Continue reading…
Continue reading...