Nasa’s Galileo spacecraft has found evidence of water beneath the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, researchers said. The data suggest there is significant exchange between Europa’s icy shell and the ocean beneath, they added. This information could bolster arguments that Europa’s global subsurface ocean represents a potential habitat for life elsewhere in our solar system, Xinhua reported, quoting Nasa.
Europa, which is slightly smaller than earth’s moon, is believed to have a large ocean of salty water deep beneath its frozen crust. The Galileo spacecraft, launched by the space shuttle Atlantis in 1989, studied Jupiter, which is the largest planet in the solar system, and some of its many moons.
Pictures sent by Galileo revealed cracks and jumbled ice on Jupiter’s surface. Seeking to understand how such topography evolved in a place with such dim sunlight, scientists believe that the answer lies in similar processes on earth.