"ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS – EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE." These are the words broadcast by the computer HAL as recounted in Arthur C. Clarke's book "2010: Odyssey Two," the sequel to the iconic "2001: A Space Odyssey." The message had been delivered to the computer by the non-corporeal David Bowman (the focus …
Where Might Plumes of Water Vapor Come From on Icy Moons?
It's been some years since Europa scientists agreed that the Jovian moon has a large global ocean beneath miles of ice. More recently, scientists have identified what they view as pockets of water surrounded by ice but much nearer the surface than the ocean below. And there has been research as well into what may …
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The Juno Spacecraft Images Jupiter’s Moon Europa as it Speeds Past
For NASA to extend its space science missions well past their original lifetime in space has become such a commonplace that it is barely noticed. The Curiosity rover was scheduled to last on Mars for two years but now it has been going for a decade -- following the pace set by earlier, smaller Mars …
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Icy Moons, And Exploring The Secrets They Hold
When it come to habitable environments in our solar system, there's Earth, perhaps Mars billions of years ago and then a slew of ice-covered moons that are likely to have global oceans under their crusts. Many of you are familiar with Europa (a moon of Jupiter) and Enceladus (a moon of Saturn) -- which have …
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A Clue Into The Makeup of Jupiter’s Moon Europa Provided by the Greenland Ice Sheet
Europa's ice crust is crossed by thousands of double ridges, pairs of long parallel raised lines with a small valleys in between, sometimes as much as hundreds of miles long and skyscraper-height tall rims. While these double ridges are ubiquitous on Europa's surface, how they form remains something of a mystery to scientists. Dustin Schroeder, …
Frigid Europa Holds a Huge and Maybe Habitable Ocean Beneath Its Thick Ice Covering. How is That Possible?
Jupiter's moon Europa is almost five times as far away from the sun as Earth is, with surface temperatures that don't rise above minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit. It's slightly smaller than our moon and orbits but 400,000 miles from the solar system's largest planet, which it takes but 3.5 Earth days to orbit. As a …
Icy Moons and Their Plumes
Just about everything that scientists see as essential for extraterrestrial life -- carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and sources of energy -- is now known to be pretty common in our solar system and beyond. It's basically there for the taking by untold potential forms of life. But what is not at all common …
A Reprieve for Space Science?
A quick update on a recent column about whether our "golden age" of space science and discovery was in peril because of cost overruns and Trump administration budget priorities that emphasized human space travel over science. The 2018 omnibus spending bill that was passed Wednesday night by the House of Representatives and Thursday night …
A Reprieve for Space Science?
A quick update on a recent column about whether our "golden age" of space science and discovery was in peril because of cost overruns and Trump administration budget priorities that emphasized human space travel over science. The 2018 omnibus spending bill that was passed Wednesday night by the House of Representatives and Thursday night by …
Certain Big, Charged Molecules Are Universal to Life on Earth. Can They Help Detect It In The Far Solar System?
This article of mine, slightly tweaked for Many Worlds, first appeared today (July 6) in Astrobiology Magazine, http://www.astrobio.net As NASA inches closer to launching new missions to the Solar System’s outer moons in search of life, scientists are renewing their focus on developing a set of universal characteristics of life that can be measured. …
Many Worlds 