NASA's Juno spacecraft is shedding new light on the potential habitability of Jupiter's moon Europa.
This view of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was captured by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29, 2022.
The data indicates that this icy moon produces 1,000 tons of oxygen per 24 hours. Interestingly, this quantity is sufficient to sustain a million humans for a day. Scientists postulate that some amount of oxygen may make its way into the moon’s subsurface ocean, and act as a potential source of metabolic energy.The new findings are crucial in determining Europa’s habitability and the possibility of life-sustaining conditions under the moon’s icy surface.“Europa is like an ice ball slowly losing its water in a flowing stream.
This illustration shows charged particles from Jupiter impacting Europa’s surface, splitting frozen water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen molecules. Scientists believe some of these newly created oxygen gases could migrate toward the moon’s subsurface ocean, as depicted in the inset image.This fourth-largest Jovian moon is of immense importance to science.
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