Humans have long pondered whether our world is unique in the universe in sustaining life. Scientists are increasingly confident “wet” worlds resembling Earth are the best place to start the search for alien life. And accordingly, US space agency NASA a craft to search for clues of early life on Jupiter’s moon Europa.
The NASA Galileo probe last year flew through a giant plume of water vapour erupting from Europa’s icy surface.
Ocean worlds may represent the best possibility, in our solar system, of finding life
Dr Amanda Hendrix
These plumes blast debris a hundred miles high, according to a fresh analysis of the spacecraft’s data.
The discovery has cemented the growing scientific consensus Jupiter’s moon, one of four first spotted by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610, is the most promising place in the solar system to hunt for alien life.
Now NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) spacecraft has revealed tantalising clues to understanding Europa’s environment and its subsurface ocean.
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Europa: NASA next want to penetrate its ice with radar (Image: NASA)
SOFIA: NASA has built an airborne observatory (Image: NASA)
Such erupting water plumes contain approximately the amount of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Although’s SOFIA’s 2017 observations did
