Far out cosmology: is there life on Europa (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, July 02, 2024, 18:04 (67 days ago) @ David Turell

A rocket will orbit Europa and study it for life supporting elements:

https://www.the-scientist.com/searching-for-life-s-simple-necessities-across-the-astero...

"Currently, some of the best contenders for life in Earth’s backyard are celestial bodies that have subsurface water oceans, which planetary scientists call ocean worlds. One of these candidates is Europa, an ice-covered moon orbiting Jupiter. Although researchers have some information about this moon from satellites and ground-based instruments, they still lack detailed knowledge about its environment. Soon, they may have answers. In October, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send Europa Clipper, a satellite orbiter with nine analytical instruments, to Europa to study its environment and assess its habitability.

"What we see on Earth is that anytime water and hot rock come into contact with one another, it’s capable of supporting life without sunlight and without oxygen. James Holden, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

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"One of Clipper’s objectives is to confirm the existence of this subsurface ocean, and importantly, determine its depth, salinity, and composition. Radar and gravity measuring instruments will help determine how deep the water body is under the ice. Meanwhile, Clipper’s magnetometer will help scientists figure out the salinity of Europa’s ocean and determine whether or not the moon is a possible place to find life; it may also point to the type of life that could be found. The average salinity of an ocean on Earth is three and a half percent, and a plethora of species call the salty seas home. However, in colder regions of the planet, for water to remain liquid, the salt content is higher, in some cases, up to 24 percent. Against expectations, researchers found microbes, cryophiles, living in these conditions.

“'If you are a cryophile, it means that you also have to be a salt loving organism,” explained Lyle Whyte, a microbial ecologist at McGill University who is not affiliated with the Europa Clipper mission. He studies microbes that live in regions of the High Arctic and in Antarctica. “It’s not like a lush, green Amazon jungle of microbial life. It’s more like a desert of microbial life, but there’s life there,” he said.

"Scientists classify organisms like cryophiles as extremophiles.

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"Additionally, life on Europa would likely be capable of surviving in the dark. “We’re not counting on sunlight as the energy source,” Pappalardo said. “Instead of photosynthesis, it’s chemosynthesis that we’re interested in.”

"Unlike much of life on terrestrial Earth, cryophiles do not use sunlight or sugars to obtain energy. Instead, these organisms are lithoautotrophs that produce energy from methane or fix carbon dioxide with the help of sulfur species.5,6 This may make these organisms excellent models for the possible types of life on a world like Europa. “If you’re looking for life on the icy moons or Mars, what would Mars or an icy moon microbe look like?” Whyte asked. “It’d have to be a cryophile and highly salt tolerant and anaerobic.”

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"Clipper also carries an ultraviolet spectrograph and infrared spectrometer. “Reflectance spectroscopy is really incredibly powerful in that it helps to identify different compounds,” Holden explained. “Maybe it’ll identify salts. Maybe it’ll identify even organic compounds. And so having the ability to take a closer look at what’s actually trapped on the surface of Europa would be incredibly valuable.” Meanwhile, two mass spectrometers will identify the molecular species from gases and dust particulate near the icy world.

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"Scientists expect that Clipper will confirm and define many of Europa’s features, such as its ocean composition and what compounds are present on and around the moon. However, with so much data to collect, they expect the mission to yield plenty of surprises. “I’m most excited about the things that we can’t even anticipate that we will learn,” Cable said."

Comment: The follow-up stage is obvious. If the Clipper finds enough information that life might be present, another rocket will land on its surface and drill to bring home cores of ice and possibly liquid water. Consider the meaning to religions if life is there. How will that relate to conceptions of God and God's role in creating humans? From my viewpoint, I see no problem. Simply, God made this universe life-supporting as shown by the fine-tuning evidence.