NASA’s Juno probe has new revelations to tell us. Thanks to its data, scientists have succeeded in establishing the amount of oxygen produced by Jupiter’s moon Europa. This gas could well fuel underground ocean life.
After taking pictures of Jupiter’s vortex, the Juno probe continues its journey through space. His data on Europa made it possible to discover that Jupiter’s moon produces a lot of oxygen every day. Now with reliable estimates of this amount of oxygen and the possibility that it harbors an underground ocean, scientists believe that Europa could harbor life. And if not, it can provide the oxygen humans need.
Juno Probe Reveals Secrets of Europa, Jupiter’s Moon
In an article published in the highly regarded science journal Nature, researchers from NASA’s JADE team focused specifically on data related to Europa’s oxygen production. Scientists arrived at the estimate based on the amount of hydrogen released from its surface. Europa would produce about 1,000 tons of oxygen every 24 hours: enough to support a million humans.
“Europe is like an ice ball that is slowly losing its water to the stream. In our case, the current is a fluid of ionized particles flowing around Jupiter through its extraordinary magnetic field.“, explains Jamie Szale, co-author of the article and researcher at Princeton University.
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“When these ionized particles hit Europa, they break apart water ice molecules by molecules on the surface to produce hydrogen and oxygen.“, the scientist continues. Thus, plants are not needed to obtain oxygen, as on Earth, the product is directly chemical.
Launched in 2011, Juno’s mission is to explore Jupiter and its 95 moons, also called the Jovian system. The probe eventually achieved its goal, and over the past two years, Juno has taken stunning images of Europa, as well as terrifying shots of Jupiter’s other moon, Io. The investigation should continue to collect data and images in the area. Next stop on April 9, when Juno returns to fly over Io.
For Europe, it is a promising siteAstrobiology. With its 3,100 km diameter, it is the fourth largest of Jupiter’s moons and may contain a subsurface ocean. Oxygen produced by chemical processes can supply this ocean. Therefore, scientists hope that life thrives beneath the moon’s icy surface. We’ll know for sure in six years: Europe will host NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in the 2030s.
- NASA’s Juno probe is exploring Jupiter’s surroundings, and its data is telling us more about the moon Europa.
- Europe produces oxygen at a rate of 1,000 tons per day, enough for 1 million people to breathe.
- This could supply oxygen to the underground ocean that scientists suspect Europa is hiding.
