Radiation Maps of Jupiter’s Moon Europa

New comprehensive mapping of the radiation pummeling Jupiter’s icy moon Europa reveals where scientists should look -- and how deep they’ll have to go -- when searching for signs of habitability and biosignatures.

Since NASA’s Galileo mission yielded strong evidence of a global ocean underneath Europa’s icy shell in the 1990s, scientists have considered that moon one of the most promising places in our solar system to look for ingredients to support life. There’s even evidence that the salty water sloshing around the moon’s interior makes its way to the surface.

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Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Radiation from Jupiter can destroy molecules on Europa’s surface. Material from Europa’s ocean that ends up on the surface will be bombarded by radiation, possibly destroying any biosignatures, or chemical signs that could imply the presence of life.

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Flyover of Jupiter's Moon Europa

Could a liquid water ocean beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa have the ingredients to support life? Here's how NASA's mission to Europa would find out.

We’re now learning that icy worlds seem to be the best places in Solar System where life could be hiding. Worlds like Europa and Enceladus, which have vast oceans of liquid water beneath a shell of water ice.

And just in the last year, astrobiologists announced that hardy forms of Earth life should be able to thrive in these oceans, feeding off hydrogen gas emanating from deep sea vents.

Clearly we need to explore these worlds, to go deep down beneath the ice to explore the ocean depths. But how do you drill through kilometers of ice to reach it?