Nasa is all set to launch one of its most amnitious
projects-to find whearht jupiter’s icy moon europa is habitable.
The world’s leading space exploration agency is certain that
europa may be able to support life.Nasa has commissioned a team of experts to
consider the Goals for a landed spacecraft mission to the surface of Europa and
to investigate the composition and geology of its icy shell and the potencrial
for life within its interior ocean.
The nasa appointed science definition team on Thurseday
presented the three main objectives of a future mission designed to land
robotic spacecraft o the surface of Europa and to investigate its potential to
support lifre.It will investigathe the compostition and chemistry,and dyunamics
of its icy shell and stydy the moon’s human scale surface geology.
“landing on europa and touching its surface is a visionary
goal of planetary science.Europa is the most likely place in our solar system
beyond Earth to have life to day,and a landed mission would be the best way to
search for sighs of life,”says Robert Pappalardo from Nasa’s jet propulsion
Laboratory.Europa is slightly smaller then the earth’s moon.Like the
earth,Europa is thought to have an iron core,a rocky mantle and surface ocean
of salty water.Scientists know there may be enough oxygen in the watsrs of
Europa to support millions of tons worth of fish.
The findings suggenst the satellight could be capable of
supposting the kinds of life familiar to us heare on earth,if only in microbial
form.Europa is enveloped by a global ocean 160km deep,within an icy crust that
may be only a few miles thick.
The ice obn the surface is made from hydrogen and oxygen,and
the constant stream of radiation pouring in form Jupiter reacts with this ice
to rorm free oxygen and other oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide.the reactivity
of oxygen and other oxidants such as hedrogen peroxide.The reactivcy of exygen
is key to generating the energy that helped multi-cellular life flourish on our
planet.Europa orbits Jupiter every 3.5 days and is phase locked just like Earth's Moon-- so that the same side of Europa faces Jupiter at all times.However,because Europa's orbit is eccentric(an oval or ellipse not a circle)when it is close to Jupiter the tide is much higher than when it is far from Jupiter.
Thus tidal forces raise and lower-the sea beneath the ice,causing constant motion and likely causing the cracks we see in images of Europa's surface from visiting robotic probes.
This tidal heating causes Europa to be warmer than it would otherwise be at its average distance about 780000000Km form the sun,more than five times as far as the distance from the Earth
to the Sun.
The warmth of Europa's liquid ocean could prove critical to the survival of simple organism within the ocean,if they exist.
Europa was discovered on 8 January 1610 by Galileo Galilei.The discovery,along with three other Jovian moons,was the first time a moon was discovered orbiting a planet other than Earth.The discovery of the four Galilean satellites eventually led to the understanding that planets in our solar system revolving around Earth.Galileo apparently around Earth.Galileo apparently had observed Europa on 7 January 1610,but had been unable to differentiate it from Io until the next night.
Europa was originally designated Jupiter II by Galileo because it was the second satellite of Jupiter.Europa is named for the Daughter of Agenor.
No comments:
Post a Comment