Europa may have an oxygen-saturated ocean

[SiberianTiger]

Interesting reading.
http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/3506/europa’s-churn-leads-to-oxygen-burn

 

[Tycho]

This would certainly be an interesting prospect with regard to locating life elsewhere in space. Thank you for sharing!

 

[dgatsoulis]

Here is something that i wanted to ask:
Humanity's best bet on finding "advanced" (more than microbial) life, lies within our solar system, right? In fact... Europa is the best candinate on finding fish-like (or better) life-forms.
So... WHY go (back) to the Moon, or even Mars!? We have sent a lander on one of Saturn's moon's but not on Europa!?

 

[ar81]

I wonder if there might be life there, in which case starting an oxygen mining operation would be damaging to the environment like an artificial human spill.

 

[Jarvitä]

Here is something that i wanted to ask:
Humanity's best bet on finding "advanced" (more than microbial) life, lies within our solar system, right? In fact... Europa is the best candinate on finding fish-like (or better) life-forms.
So... WHY go (back) to the Moon, or even Mars!? We have sent a lander on one of Saturn's moon's but not on Europa!?

To find anything worth finding on Europa, we'd have to drill through dozens of kilometres of ice first. On Titan, anything of interest (ie, life) is likely to be on surface or in the atmosphere. Short of firing a nuclear weapon (or a similar high yield explosive device) at Europa, there's just no way we can build a spacecraft equipped to penetrate its icy outer crust within the mass budget of probe missions.

 

[Bj]

So... WHY go (back) to the Moon, or even Mars!? We have sent a lander on one of Saturn's moon's but not on Europa!?

To find anything worth finding on Europa, we'd have to drill through dozens of kilometres of ice first. On Titan, anything of interest (ie, life) is likely to be on surface or in the atmosphere. Short of firing a nuclear weapon (or a similar high yield explosive device) at Europa, there's just no way we can build a spacecraft equipped to penetrate its icy outer crust within the mass budget of probe missions.

Spacecraft_proposals_and_cancellations

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryobot"]Cryobot[/ame]

Other than that, it takes quite a while and quite a budget to get there...

 

[dgatsoulis]

I guess i wasn't the first person that came up with this... But isn't finding (an "advanced" life-form) on another planet, one of the "Holy-Grail's" of our species!?
Think of how many ways it would "change" us...

 

[Izack]

ALL THESE WORLDS
ARE YOURS EXCEPT
EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE

 

[Andy44]

Well, we don't have to go for a landing and an ice penetration right away; we could start with a simple orbiter packed with sensors. You're going to need a recon mission before you can even design a successful lander, anyway, so you can characterize the ice and other environmental factors.

The space around Europa is in Jupiter's radiation belt, but a robustly built spacecraft should be able to function well enough.

 

[ddom2006]

The space around Europa is in Jupiter's radiation belt, but a robustly built spacecraft should be able to function well enough.

Always a problem when it comes to human exploration, it'd take no time at all with current or even future at this point predicted tech for us to be killed by the radiation doses out there. Agreed we need to explore Europa robotically though.

 

[TMac3000]

Walking around on Europa would be cool as hell. When I watched that Voyage to the Planets thing, I was like "They weren't afraid to land on Io, for cripes sake, but they feared trouble on Europa?"

I doubt there is any life on Europa, but it would still be a great place to build a manned research base.

 

[Bloodworth]

I guess i wasn't the first person that came up with this... But isn't finding (an "advanced" life-form) on another planet, one of the "Holy-Grail's" of our species!?
Think of how many ways it would "change" us...

Not necessarily. The holy grail of our species would be finding life of ANY sort on another body than earth, even microbial. Until we can find proof of any kind of life elsewhere then the entire concept of other advanced life in the cosmos is mere speculation.

 

[statickid]

Spacecraft_proposals_and_cancellations

Cryobot

Other than that, it takes quite a while and quite a budget to get there...

I actually worked on proposed instrumentation for the so-called cryobot you linked to at JPL. I know they tested some down in Antarctica at least 10 years ago. I don't know whether they succeeded or not though. hmmm. I also do not know if i am still bound by their confidentiality contract so i will cease posting this right now... :shifty:

 

[Andy44]

Walking around on Europa would be cool as hell. When I watched that Voyage to the Planets thing, I was like "They weren't afraid to land on Io, for cripes sake, but they feared trouble on Europa?"

I doubt there is any life on Europa, but it would still be a great place to build a manned research base.

Yes, it would be cool, as long as you don't stay out there for more than about 10 minutes. There is another thread around here somewhere which has a chart displaying the radiation environmental hazards of Jovian moons.

Io is the worst, you get a massive dose in about 5 minutes on the surface. Europa's not much better, slamming you with your 5 year rad limit in about 30 minutes. Walk arounf out there in an unshielded space suit and you'll be quickly barfing up you lunch and watching your hair fall out. Stay out there too long and you cash in your chips.

If humans go to Europa, they'll have to have a heavily shielded apparatus to get them through the space, to the surface, and into a submarine of some sort. The quicker you get under the water the better.

If I find the thread I'll link it here...

 

[Woo482]

I think this is the thread you're talking about Andy44: http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=15763

 

[Andy44]

Here it is, Cairan's thread: http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=15763

 

[Bloodworth]

Ok, if the jovian moons are that irradiated, what are the odds that between the extreme cold, low light and lethal radiation that any form of life COULD develop?

 

[Andy44]

You only have to go a few meters below the surface of the water and you are well-protected from radation. Not to mention the kilometers of ice above that.

On the other hand, some radiation is probably desirable for the purpose of spurring evolution via occasional mutations.

 

[statickid]

The idea was that the life was probably microbial at the bottom of the ocean, or floating around in it. Also there was speculation about volcanic vents like our own here on earth harboring life