Europa's Ocean May Not Reach the Surface — Complicating the Hunt for Life

Jupiter's moon Europa, home to a vast hidden ocean beneath its ice shell, has long been considered one of the solar system's best candidates for habitable conditions. Scientists had hoped that water could rise through cracks to form shallow subsurface reservoirs accessible to future spacecraft. New simulations dash those hopes, showing that turbulent water rapidly loses heat, freezes into ice crystals, and clogs the fractures — sometimes within hours.

More on this topic

🔬 Science Europa's subsurface ocean harder to reach than thought, new simulations show benchmark.pl · 3d ago 🔬 Science SETI scientists: alien signals may be hiding in old telescope data outside traditional radio frequencies Gizmodo · 5d ago 🔬 Science Planets smaller than Mars can't hold an atmosphere — ruling out alien life Space.com · 8d ago

More on this topic

🔬 Science Europa's subsurface ocean harder to reach than thought, new simulations show benchmark.pl · 3d ago 🔬 Science SETI scientists: alien signals may be hiding in old telescope data outside traditional radio frequencies Gizmodo · 5d ago 🔬 Science Planets smaller than Mars can't hold an atmosphere — ruling out alien life Space.com · 8d ago