NASA's dead satellite finds extremely important traces of life on Europa

Evidence of water on Europa turned out to have been around for decades.

As previously reported, NASA recently held a press conference to announce a very important finding regarding Jupiter's moon Europa.

More precisely, these are the latest analyzes. And as far as new information is revealed, they are data coming from a probe that was "dead" decades ago - the Galileo .

Moon Europa.

Specifically, the team led by Associate Professor Xianzhe Jia from the University of Michigan conducted data analysis on the mission of Galileo - which flew around Jupiter during 1995 to 2003.

The results showed that on December 16, 1997, Galileo flew over a giant pillar of water from Europa - most likely due to a giant ocean beneath the icy surface of the satellite. The data block coincides with what Hubble Space Telescope found later, that Europa is spraying on giant water columns.

"These are very clear evidence of Europa emitting water columns," Jia said. "We believe the ship flew over one of them."

The Galileo flew through a huge pillar of water coming from Europa.

Specifically, during the E12 access code, Galileo flew across Europa at an altitude of about 200km. But now, the tools suddenly recognize the magnetic field and plasma density suddenly increased within 3 minutes.

This bizarre phenomenon was immediately linked to the theory of water columns on Europa. Water sprayed through gaps in the surface, forming droplets of water. They are ionized when they reach outer space, become charged molecules - or plasma.

Plasma can affect magnetic fields. However, the computer emulator shows that this spike only comes from a single column of water. They even calculated how big the hole was.

"The size can be predicted thanks to the signaling time, as well as the flight speed of the ship," Jia said.

"That crack can be up to 1,000 km"

During all of Galileo's approach, only once did it fly over a column of water.

When this data block first appeared, scientists did not really understand what they were encountering. However, after many years, we observed the columns of water on Enceladus (Moon of Saturn), and then Hubble discovered the pillar of Europa since 2010.

"It could be said that we were" thinking a little bit "a little bit," said William Kurth, an expert at the University of Iowa at the Galileo project.

During all of Galileo's approach, only once did it fly over a column of water. The approach of E26 in January 2000 also recorded a spike, but was later determined not because of the water column.

What does this discovery mean?

From the data of E12, we determine the location of the water column. According to experts, it seems that it is located at the giant crater named Pwyll Crater, in the Southern part of Europa. This data coincides with Hubble's observation of the water column in 2010.

There may be unusual geological activities in this area.

This shows that there may be unusual geological activities in this area. It is unclear how long the pillar will last, but it is requiring science to perform an investigation task as soon as possible.

At the present time, many people still consider Saturn's Enceladus as the most suitable place to search for life in the solar system. But the reality shows, only Europa is the target of at least two more missions, while Enceladus is not.

As planned in the early 2020s, NASA will send the Europa Clipper to Jupiter's Moon. It will carry out 45 flights approaching this place, of which the majority around the Galileo area have access to the E12.

If there is actually a water column that launches there, Clipper will collect a few samples and start testing. The European Space Agency (ESA) could not turn a blind eye. In 2022, ESA plans to send the JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) to Europa, the same purpose as Clipper.

Europa can bring the ingredients needed to sustain life.

Earlier, it was determined that under Europa there was a vast ocean, even more water than Earth. But access to it is extremely difficult, because the ocean is hidden under a layer of ice tens of kilometers thick.

So with the water column spraying on the surface, we have the opportunity to reach that mysterious water layer.

And most importantly, when water is present on the surface, it is also possible that Europa can carry the components necessary to sustain life. If the undersea ocean has hydrothermal activities, life will most likely appear here.