Breakthrough Model Reveals How Nutrients Might Access Europa's Icy Shell to Nourish Its Hidden Ocean

Study Suggests A Pathway For Life-sustaining Conditions In Europa’s Ocean - Astrobiology

A recent study by geophysicists at Washington State University offers insight into how nutrients may reach the subsurface ocean of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons and a leading candidate for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. Scientists have long wondered how life-sustaining nutrients could make it from the surface into Europa’s ice-covered ocean, where microscopic […] The post Study Suggests A Pathway For Life-sustaining Conditions In Eu…

Breakthrough Model Reveals How Nutrients Might Access Europa's Icy Shell to Nourish Its Hidden Ocean

Geophysicists from Washington State University and Virginia Tech have uncovered a potential pathway for nutrient transport from the radioactive surface of Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, to its subsurface ocean. Artist’s concept of the oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Europa is believed to host more liquid water than all of Earth’s oceans combined, [...] The post Breakthrough Model Reveals How Nutrients Might Access E…