Europa's oceans possibly contain enough oxygen for advanced lifeforms - Polidicks

Screw Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa is where life's at. [quote] Jupiter's moon Europa is flowing with a buried liquid water ocean that contains much more oxygen than previously thought – enough to possibly support life, scientists say. There is no solid evidence of life for anywhere besides Earth, but Europa has long been considered a good place to look for biological activity. Europa's ocean lies beneath several miles of ice, so scientists wondered whether it has much oxygen, which is thought to be created at the surface by interaction with energetic charged particles from the sun. Scientists think oxygen is probably necessary for life's metabolic processes, unless some creatures use exotic chemistry involving sulfur or methane. [b]The global ocean on Europa contains about twice the liquid water of all the Earth's oceans combined. The new research suggests that there may be a hundred times more oxygen than previously estimated.[/b] To probe how much oxygen might lie in the ocean, Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona studied Europa's surface, which appears to be only about 50 million years old - roughly 1 percent of the age of the solar system - and continually reforming. [b]He considered three possible resurfacing processes: gradually laying fresh material on the surface, opening cracks which fill with fresh ice from below, and disrupting patches of surface in place and replacing them with fresh material. Using estimates for the production of oxygen at the surface, Greenberg found that the delivery rate into the ocean is likely so fast that the oxygen concentration could exceed that of the Earth's oceans in only a few million years. These concentrations of oxygen could be great enough to support not only microorganisms, but also larger animals that have greater oxygen demands, Greenberg said.[/b] The good news for the question of the origin of life is that there would be a delay of a couple of billion years before the first surface oxygen reached the ocean. Without that delay, the first pre-biotic chemistry and the first primitive organic structures would be disrupted by oxidation, or rusting. Oxidation is a hazard unless organisms have evolved protection from its damaging effects. A similar delay in the production of oxygen on Earth was probably essential for allowing life to get started here. Greenberg will present his findings Friday at the 41st meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.[/quote] [quote]In 2006, Robert T. Pappalardo, an assistant professor in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder said: “ We’ve spent quite a bit of time and effort trying to understand if Mars was once a habitable environment. Europa today, probably, is a habitable environment. We need to confirm this … but Europa, potentially, has all the ingredients for life … and not just four billion years ago … but today."[/quote] [url]http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/081008-europa-ocean.html[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)[/url] I hope they send a lander in our lifetime.

I thought it said Europe.

Even if this is just Speculation, this is amazing stuff. I hope they do send landers there, and perhaps even a manned mission, if feasible. These new findings such as Moon water/Europa being able to sustain life kind of just blew out the old notion that we are alone.

lies and slander

[QUOTE=Machk;17758002]Even if this is just Speculation, this is amazing stuff. I hope they do send landers there, and perhaps even a manned mission, if feasible. These new findings such as Moon water/Europa being able to sustain life kind of just blew out the old notion that we are alone.[/QUOTE] Being able doesn't mean that there is anything. I really doubt it, in fact.

[QUOTE=Machk;17758002]Even if this is just Speculation, this is amazing stuff. I hope they do send landers there, and perhaps even a manned mission, if feasible. These new findings such as Moon water/Europa being able to sustain life kind of just blew out the old notion that we are alone.[/QUOTE] Water and the ability to sustain life doesn't mean life. Ninja

-snipped-

[QUOTE=Orkel;17757954]Screw Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa is [b]where life's at.[/b][/QUOTE] Thread music. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smUMOm6-P2U[/media]

[QUOTE=Glitch360;17758053]How the fuck do they know what's on there? They should GO there before making any retarded assumptions...[/QUOTE] We have been there, but we have not landed. :rolleyes: Anyway, if it turns out that there is no life there, who thinks we should introduce some primitive bacteria?

[QUOTE=Zezibesh;17758035]Being able doesn't mean that there is anything. I really doubt it, in fact.[/QUOTE] Well, the intense heat and energy coming from the planet core, due to tidal heating from Jupiter, has probably yielded environments with enough energy to cause a reaction between the base elements required for life, like underwater volcanoes, which are thought to be where life originated from. So if Europa does have underwater volcanoes, it's probably got the right conditions for life, and the potential to create life. So if there's any life in the solar system besides Earth, i'd probably say it's in Europa.

Introduce Bacteria to Mars.

Drop some dolphins in that bitch.

Once we are on Mars, we'll have to deal with the problem of distributing water to people in space. Althought that still might be 10k years from now or something, we'll have to worry. Earth does not have endless amounts of water. Getting some from other planets is our best chance.

Didn't they make a ship that could get to Mars in 39 days? If so going to (near) Jupiter wouldn't be that far really. Well it would be far, but possible I guess... I really have no idea

[QUOTE=Killuah;17758314]Once we are on Mars, we'll have to deal with the problem of distributing water to people in space. Althought that still might be 10k years from now or something, we'll have to worry. Earth does not have endless amounts of water. Getting some from other planets is our best chance.[/QUOTE] It's more likely for us to make up some kind of water generator or something, rather than get water from other planets here.

[QUOTE=BackflipHatchetAttack;17758338]Didn't they make a ship that could get to Mars in 39 days? If so going to (near) Jupiter wouldn't be that far really. Well it would be far, but possible I guess... I really have no idea[/QUOTE] Read that thread again.

[QUOTE=BackflipHatchetAttack;17758338]Didn't they make a ship that could get to Mars in 39 days? If so going to (near) Jupiter wouldn't be that far really. Well it would be far, but possible I guess... I really have no idea[/QUOTE] no they made a engine that gets to mars in 39 days

[QUOTE=BackflipHatchetAttack;17758338]Didn't they make a ship that could get to Mars in 39 days? If so going to (near) Jupiter wouldn't be that far really. Well it would be far, but possible I guess... I really have no idea[/QUOTE] The Enterprise can get to it in 0.003 seconds.

[QUOTE=Death0nWings;17758310]Drop some dolphins in that bitch.[/QUOTE] Millions of years later we would be invaded by Dolphin people :ohdear:

In Lithuanian that means Europe.

[QUOTE=The Epidemic;17758381]Millions of years later we would be invaded by Dolphin people :ohdear:[/QUOTE] I'm willing to be held hostage by your avatar.

[QUOTE=KestasLT;17758383]In Lithuanian that means Europe.[/QUOTE] Umm...okay? On topic: This is very interesting. Proves that an astral object does not have to be within the goldilocks zone to be able to support life.

[QUOTE=bigdoggie;17758357]It's more likely for us to make up some kind of water generator or something, rather than get water from other planets here.[/QUOTE] A water generator? I'm speaking of what when mars or moon don't have enough water. A settlement is kind of sure as soon as a good energy source is found. [editline]05:53PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Reborn9;17758796]Umm...okay? On topic: This is very interesting. Proves that an astral object does not have to be within the goldilocks zone to be able to support life.[/QUOTE] However,planets in Goldilocks zone are planets that have liquid water on the surface. So maybe the term of Goldilocks Zone needs to be corrected!

Didn't anyone read 2001/2010? We shouldn't go near Europa. It's not safe there.

[QUOTE=Killuah;17758314]Once we are on Mars, we'll have to deal with the problem of distributing water to people in space. Althought that still might be 10k years from now or something, we'll have to worry. Earth does not have endless amounts of water. Getting some from other planets is our best chance.[/QUOTE] In that much time, I think we'll have the ability to just synthesize hydrogen and oxygen into water. Actually, I think we can do that now, except it's obviously fucking expensive and not worth it at all yet

[QUOTE=Killuah;17758314]Earth does not have endless amounts of water. [/QUOTE] Sure we do. It's not like your toilet flushes it into the sun.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;17760142]Sure we do. It's not like your toilet flushes it into the sun.[/QUOTE] Don't forget Antarctica, we can get a lot of fresh water from there if we melt it and bring it back..

[QUOTE=KestasLT;17758383]In Lithuanian that means Europe.[/QUOTE] And in danish and latin.

[QUOTE=KestasLT;17760193]Don't forget Antarctica, we can get a lot of fresh water from there if we melt it and bring it back..[/QUOTE] Or we could just, you know, drink the water that falls out of the sky.

[QUOTE=DPennington;17759500]Didn't anyone read 2001/2010? We shouldn't go near Europa. It's not safe there.[/QUOTE] what is this?