Astronomers are one step closer to determining if a remote moon in our solar system could support life.
Using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have identified carbon dioxide in a specific region on the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. The discovery brings them closer to knowing if Europa could support life.
According to NASA, previous research has shown that Europa has a a subsurface ocean of salty liquid water beneath a crust of solid warer ice. However, planetary scientists had not confirmed if that ocean contained the chemicals needed for life, particularly carbon -- until now.
"On Earth, life likes chemical diversity – the more diversity, the better. We're carbon-based life. Understanding the chemistry of Europa's ocean will help us determine whether it's hostile to life as we know it, or if it might be a good place for life," Geronimo Villanueva, lead author of one of two independent papers describing the findings, said in a statement.
Researchers indicate that the carbon likely originated in Europa's subsurface ocean and was not delivered by meteorites or other external sources. It was found abundantly in a region called Tara Regio – a geologically young area of generally resurfaced terrain known as "chaos terrain."
"We now think that we have observational evidence that the carbon we see on Europa's surface came from the ocean. That's not a trivial thing. Carbon is a biologically essential element," said Samantha Trumbo, lead author of the second paper analyzing the data.
The findings were published on Sept. 21 in the journal Science.
NASA plans to launch its Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will perform dozens of close flybys of Europa to further investigate whether it could have conditions suitable for life, in October 2024. The spacecraft is expected to reach the Jupiter system in 2030 after a six-year, 1.6-billion-mile journey. Instruments will gather data on how deep the subsurface ocean is, how thick the ice crust is, and, potentially, the characteristics of any plumes that may be venting subsurface water into space.