Eureka! There’s Water in Europa!
There’s Water in
For years now, NASA and other teams of scientists have been working to prove that there are significant sources of water in space. One of those water sources believed to have sustainable amounts of water for alien lifeforms, is one of Jupiter’s many moons, Europa. On May 15 of this year, scientists discovered more information that is sure to change the way we view the worlds around us. This week we’re discussing why this is a scientific wonder and a huge advancement in our attempts to discover life existing on other planets.
All about Europa
Europa is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old, about the same age as Jupiter. The distance from the sun is vast, at about 485 million miles. This leaves the moon extremely cold, as the surface at the equator never rises above negative 260 degrees Fahrenheit. The surface of this Jupiter moon is adorned with extremely thick ice. Essentially, Europa may not be a habitable place for humans as we could never survive these temperatures. However, just because humans can not sustain living in this conditions, that doesn’t mean that other lifeforms would experience the same issue.
Aliens in Europa: Fish-Size Life
Ever since the early 1990s, NASA has been sending satellites and other imaging tools to Europa to study the bizarre surface of the moon. Ever since Galileo, NASA’s spacecraft, studied the moon, they’ve predicted that Europa vents water into space. Until recently, they hadn’t had any recorded any hard evidence of recent water being released into outer space. Now, with newer technology, we’ve been able to prove that Europa has a lot more water than previously predicted. Due to the way Europa ventilates water and its abundance of oxygen, there is a strong debate as to whether or not Europa could harbor fish-sized life.
Why has this taken so long?
Many people may be jumping to joy at the thought of alien life. While Hollywood may have dramatized how alien life functions, there’s truly no way to know what kind of creatures are living on other planets and moons, or even on Europa. In previous missions to study Jupiter’s moons, the technology wasn’t catered towards this type of water movement in space. The spacecrafts and satellites were more geared towards studying the surface of the moons, rather than carefully observing the space surrounding the moons. In fact, after utilizing newer instrumentation to understand the readings from the 1990’s, we understand now that NASA’s Galileo flew right through water plumes. Unfortunately, the spacecraft never communicated the change in atmospheric water until scientists felt urged to further delve into the information today.
The next steps
NASA intends to take this new information found in old data and aggressively search for more answers. Officially titled the Europa Clipper, NASA plans to launch a mission in 2020 to investigate the habitability of the moon. By rapidly orbiting around Europa, NASA plans to absorb as much information as they can as frequently as possible. Essentially, they don’t want to miss out on any new information, especially if there truly are lifeforms living on Europa.
Now, we’ll all have to wait to hear from NASA in terms of alien life on Europa. Until then, call us today to better your own life with higher quality water and a healthier lifestyle through a soft water filtration system. It’s sure to be some of the best water available (at least on this planet!).