Anya Cappon Blog 6: JPL

Sea Monsters on The Moon

We love our moon so much that living on earth and seeing our moon every day might make us forget how many other moons there are. Jupiter, for example, has 79 identified moons, but there is one in particular that stands out. Europa is one of Jupiter's moons that may have the conditions to support life. If sea monsters lived on the moon, chances are they would live on Europa. NASA is currently working on a mission to go to Europa to figure out if life really could exist somewhere else in our solar system. They might not find a whole bunch of sea monsters on the moon, but there are pretty good chances that they will discover the conditions needed to support life.
Europa in front of Jupiter NASA/JPL Caltech

The reason Europa is so exciting is that its surface is made of water ice. NASA has estimated that the surface ice is 10-15 miles tick, but underneath that is an ocean of salty water. The possibility that Europa has an ocean underneath its surface is reason enough to explore the moon. Still, there are several other factors that have to lead to the confirmation of the NASA Europa Clipper mission. The atmosphere and the magnetosphere are two more reasons to explore Europa. In 2013 researchers found that Europa might be actively venting water into space (NASA, 2019). The magnetosphere of Euroa, a measurement taken by the Galeo mission, indicates that the moon is creating its magnetic field. All of these observations not only mean the Europa is geologically active, but they also suggest this moon could support life.

Europa Ice Blocks (NASA)
NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD)
All of this newfound information on Europa has to lead up to the Europa clipper mission. The mission is officially confirmed, and the task will launch by 2025. The purpose of the mission is to find out if the conditions of Europa are suitable for life. THe EUpra clipper is not going to orbit around the moon; instead, it will orbit 45 times around Jupiter and collect data on EUrpoa every time it passes. The mission's focus on obtaining data about the temperature, surface, magnetic field, and what is under the layer of ice. With this information, Researchers at NASA will be able to determine if Europa can sustain life. The most important factors for sustaining life are water, a temperature that is not too hot or too cold, an energy source, and the right chemical elements. Europa seems to have enough of these critical factors to continue exploring, which is why NASA is launching a mission to find life on the icy moon.

Europa has all the ingredients for life, but we can not know for sure unit the completion of the Europa Clipper Mission. For now, we can entrain the idea of Sea Monsters on the moon because if they lived anywhere in our solar system, that is where they would be. In this blog, I am not claiming that the Europa Clipper spacecraft is going to come back with pictures of giant undiscovered fish. Still, we will be that much closer to knowing if we do share this galaxy with any other living things, regardless if it's a piece of algae or a moon full of sea monsters.
Add2016 artist's concept of the Europa Clipper spacecraft. The design is changing as the spacecraft is developed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech caption






Work Cited
NASA/JPL
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/jupiter-moons/europa/in-depth/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7480
https://europa.nasa.gov/mission/about/
https://europa.nasa.gov/resources/60/europa-ice-blocks/

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