Abundant Water Vapor Detected on Europe

The discovery indirectly proves that there is liquid water on Jupiter’s moon, which means that it is still a promising space object to search for extraterrestrial life.

Europe is Jupiter’s most famous moon covered with a thick layer of ice. It is in Europe that many space explorers pin their hopes of finding extraterrestrial life forms within the solar system. A lot of enthusiasts will certainly be encouraged by the discovery.

It is still unclear whether Europe has liquid water, which is a prerequisite for the existence of life. Scientists have managed to obtain only its indirect signs so far.

Over 20 years ago, Galileo spacecraft discovered electrically conductive liquid on the surface of the moon. In 2018, Hubble telescope confirmed the existence of some kind of geysers on its surface.

This time, experts at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have detected a large amount of water vapor in Europe’s atmosphere. The new study is described in detail in an article published by Nature Astronomy.

The scientists are expecting to obtain more detailed data from Europa Clipper mission scheduled for 2023. During the mission, the spacecraft will scan the moon’s surface spectrometers and other instruments in search of possible traces of life.