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Astrobiology

Water Plumes on Europa

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 26, 2016
Filed under
Water Plumes on Europa

Evidence of Water Vapor Plumes on Europa, NASA
“Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have imaged what may be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. This finding bolsters other Hubble observations suggesting the icy moon erupts with high altitude water vapor plumes. The observation increases the possibility that missions to Europa may be able to sample Europa’s ocean without having to drill through miles of ice.”

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5 responses to “Water Plumes on Europa”

  1. TheBrett says:
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    Excellent, especially if further observations confirm them. That makes potentially sampling the water of Europa vastly easier than previously hoped, since otherwise we’d have to do a lander with a drill and hope it could find something buried in the ice layer (we’re not drilling multiple kilometers of ice any time soon with a probe).

    There is one issue. Wouldn’t Jupiter’s radiation belt destroy anything organic in those plumes (if such things exist) very quickly?

    • Michael Spencer says:
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      My thoughts, too, but on the other hand the only thing being sampled is – water sprayed to orbital distance. Much to learn from the sample, certainly, but life, if extant, probably not present.

      Or not.

      • TheBrett says:
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        Jupiter’s radiation belts are the wild card there. If we fly through a plume, maybe we can pick up organics before Jupiter destroys them.

    • fcrary says:
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      I don’t think radiation would be an issue for anything in the plume. From leaving the.subsurface to landing back on the surface, the time of flight would only be about ten minutes. That’s not long enough to kill anything, even in that extreme an environment. More to the point, it isn’t long enough to break apart all the biogenic chemicals. That’s mostly what people are talking about detecting (as opposed to something crawling around under a microscope.) Radiation is a much bigger problem for a lander, which would be looking at surface samples. How deep do you need to dig, to get a sample which hasn’t had all the complex organics broken up beyond recognition?

  2. ProfSWhiplash says:
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    “may be able to sample Europa’s ocean without having to drill through miles of ice.”
    Instead of being interpreted as just sampling the vapor coming out, might not such a crack permit a tethered plumb line with a probe to just be reeled down the opening? (Assuming the exit velocity of the plume won’t spew it out like a shotgun, or more aptly, Old Faithful’s geyser)