14 DAY TRIAL // Investigators with the University of Texas in Austin (UTA) argue in a new study that Europe, one of Jupiter's most interesting moons, may feature a warm, heated ocean at its core that may support the development of elementary life forms.
The surface of the satellite is covered in very thick ice, but a liquid layer of water is hypothesized to exist deep underground, close to the moon's core. Within that layer, strong currents and other circulation patterns may be heating the water to a point where it becomes hospitable to life.
In the study, the UTA team and colleagues from Germany analyzed chaos terrains on Europe, which are icy features that showcase massive disruptions. This allowed the researchers to figure out that a process of convection may still be going on inside the moon, Science News reports.
“That means more evidence that the ocean is there, that it's active, and there are interesting interactions between the ocean and ice shell, all of which makes us think about the possibility of life on Europa,” explains Georgia Institute of Technology investigator and study coauthor, Britney Schmidt.