The interior ocean in Jupiter’s moon Europa may be able to sustain life, Nasa scientists believe.
Our models lead us to think that the oceans in other moons … may also have formed by similar processes
Findings suggest ocean worlds such as Europa can be formed by metamorphism, a change in the composition or structure of rocks by heat, pressure or other natural phenomenon.
‘Quite habitable’
Lead researcher Mohit Melwani Daswani, a geochemist and planetary scientist at JPL, said: “In other words, its composition became more like oceans on Earth.
“Our models lead us to think that the oceans in other moons, such as Europa’s neighbour Ganymede, and Saturn’s moon Titan, may also have formed by similar processes.”
A key aspect that makes a world ‘habitable’ is an intrinsic ability to maintain these chemical disequilibria
As part of the next steps, the researchers want to find out if seafloor volcanoes may have contributed to the evolution of the chloride-rich water on Europa.
