Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Search for Life on Europa

For as long as I can remember, Hollywood has often fantasized about the existence of extraterrestrial life in our solar system. Movies like Independence Day come to mind, where the alien race is super-intelligent, unforgivably evil, and morphologically terrifying. In reality, scientists and astrobiologists envision a different, more realistic picture of our friendly neighborhood ET: amino acid-based microorganisms, similar to chemosynthetic bacteria and archaea living near hydrothermal vents here on Earth.
We won't be finding him on Europa

Earlier this month, NASA announced that the Obama administration had proposed a $500 million increase for the space agency’s 2016 fiscal year. In total, the $18.5 billion budget aims to cover costs related to a variety of endeavors, such as continued Mars exploration and maintenance to the International Space Station. In early 2015, congress granted NASA $100 million to design a trip to Europa, Jupiter’s ice-covered moon that is an exciting prospect for extraterrestrial life. President Obama’s proposed budget will tack on $30 million to the project, giving NASA the go-ahead to begin development on the planned 2022 mission.

Europa in all its glory
Of the 67 confirmed moons of Jupiter, Europa cannot help but stand out from the rest. It is layered in thick ice, and geological activity related to tidal flexing leaves researchers believing that a liquid ocean exists under its icy crust. Water is a universal solvent – allowing life’s basic components (DNA, proteins, etc) to have a place in which they can exist and interact. In addition to water, Europa has an atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen, and some researchers have theorized that the ocean may have high enough oxygen levels to be considered capable of supporting macroscopic organisms similar to fish.

If life exists in the deep oceans of Europa, it would most likely resemble small, microbial organisms found living near deep-ocean hydrothermal vents. These organisms rely not on photosynthesis, but instead on chemosynthesis – which involves the conversion of carbon molecules into organic matter through the oxidation of inorganic compounds. Through chemosynthesis, life can prosper without sunlight as long as there is an energy gradient capable of synthesizing organic reactions. 
General mechanism of chemosynthesis

As our hunger for knowledge expands to the depths of our solar system, the search for alien life -- though different from science fiction portrayals – is as realistic as ever thanks to the newest NASA funding round. A mission to Europa could get us one step closer to recognizing biomarkers that suggest we are not alone in this universe. It is reassuring to recognize that our government is willing to allocate resources to the Europa space mission, and hopefully the exploration will grant us a better understanding of our solar system and of life itself.
 
Artist's rendition of Europa's icy surface
Posted by Michael Salhany (3C) 

10 comments:

  1. This is truly amazing, and it is fantastic the the government is funding this research. I wonder what makes Europa have the ability to have liquid water underneath is dense ice layers (and possibly sustain life) as compared to Jupiter's other moons. It is fascinating that with all of the other discoveries that we've made about our galaxy, that we have yet to find another planet with life on it. I suppose the essentials of life are difficult to fulfill, but I am certain we will discover it some day.

    Erika Nevins

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  2. I'm so glad money is still being funded into space missions and the exploration for life isn't a dying hope. I had no idea that this project was underway and that millions of dollars were still being thrown into space expedition. I'm confident we'll find life somewhere else, no matter how small...

    - Mitch

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  3. This sort of thing makes you wonder. If we find life on Europa, we may be able to sequence its genome and determine how genetically similar it is to our archeabacteria here on Earth. Not only that, but their may be a whole slew of new protein interactions that we'd never thought of or seen, since there's a whole new environment for them to survive in.

    I envy the astrobiologist that gets their hands on some of those critters.

    -Ethan

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    1. It is very exciting to consider! It is our understanding that all cells come from other cells, so life that generated and evolved on a different planet theoretically could have generated and evolved independently, leaving very exciting science left to be discovered for evolution and developmental biology. It would also be a historical landmark, remembered in science and history for millennia as one of humanity's greatest discoveries. Thanks for commenting!

      -Michael Salhany

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  4. Its amazing that this project is getting funding, NASA has done so much to advance our knowledge of the universe. I hope we live to see the first human expedition to Mars, or maybe even Europa one day.

    -Posted by Daniel Bonkowski

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  5. I"ll be really interested to see if this goes all the way to completion. Getting to Europa is a massive goal, and it would be fantastic to accomplish it within our lifetimes.With all the bus around the whole Mars One mission, its nice to see an real agency make plans to continue to explore our universe.

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    1. ~David Almanzar (Forgot to Tag).

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  6. This new level of knowledge that we are gaining about life somewhere other than Earth is so fascinating but I cant help but think that even if we do discover life out there what exactly will it do for us? Do you think that the 18.5 billion tax dollars per year by the US is worth the exploration? Do you think that this money could be better used in other research labs and in areas such as cancer research where we have a clear goal to work towards and breakthroughs that we're already on the brink of? It might only be a matter of a couple more billion dollars in grants to get us to defeat the diseases that are killing all of us.

    -Cullan Bartel

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    1. You make a very powerful point, and I understand where you're coming from. I agree that cancer and medical research developments are of the utmost importance. They do receive generous funding ($5 billion+), but that research differs from NASA whereas NASA's research is so excruciatingly expensive to do what they set out to do, that they need that kind of money to function as an organization.

      As an aspiring scientist, I love seeing government spending going towards programs that I believe are important, such as space exploration. Expanding our knowledge of our solar system could get us closer to inhabiting other planets in the future, therefore helping to secure humanity's existence in the Milky Way. In this regard, I support NASA funding. However, what I do not support is spending $750 billion - $1.1 trillion on the Iraq War. Funding a war like this where arguably nobody wins is unforgivable when imagining that that money could have gone towards cancer and medical research, or even other programs to help people in need. Thanks for the insightful comment!

      -Michael Salhany

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  7. This was a good article. Every time I read articles such as this one that talks about the potential findings of life elsewhere, I cant help to ask myself "then what?" If we find life on another planet or moon what are the next
    steps?
    -Barbara Afogho

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