The largest planet in the solar system, the gas giant Jupiter, has huge dimensions and a mass exceeding 2.47 times the sum of the masses of all the other planets of the system. Due to the relatively fast rotation around its axis, one revolution takes about ten Earth hours, Jupiter creates a powerful magnetospheric effect on a fairly large space located in close proximity to the planet.
Scientific research at the California Institute of Technology, led by Tom Nordheim, focused on a long-term study of the physical processes of interaction between the gas giant and one of its satellites, Europe.
Europe is one of the most interesting, from the point of view of science, objects located in the immediate vicinity of Jupiter. The satellite is large enough to allow observations from the Earth and through orbital telescopes. Scientists have long established the absence of their own atmosphere in Europe.
Researchers' interest in Europe is due to the fact that spectral analysis showed the presence in the interior of the satellite of the satellite of liquid water in the amount of eight percent of the total size of the object. Water reserves in Europe go deep into the satellite for ninety kilometers. The total volume of water at the facility is much larger than the world's oceans.The difference is that in Europe, water resources are hidden under thick layers of ice.
The statement of astronomers and biologists about the possible existence of life forms in water under the ice shell of Europe is weighty. Scientists have modeled the interaction of physical processes between Jupiter and Europe, as well as the effect on the satellite of the radioactive cosmic radiation of the Sun. A positive fact was noted that the giant planet encompasses the space around Europe with its electromagnetic field, significantly compensating for the absence of its own magnetosphere.
The destructive cosmic rays penetrate only into the upper layers of the ocean on a satellite, therefore organic life may well exist at great depths. Moreover, the stream of more harmless particles and rays from Jupiter, interacts with a powerful stream of cosmic solar radiation. As a result of cross-reactions, there is a neutralization of energy that negatively affects biological organisms and the resulting compounds do not even penetrate the thick ice layer of Europe.
The modeling results led to the conclusion that, despite the absence of an atmosphere in Europe, there is a possibility of the presence in the subglacial layer of the surface of a certain amount of oxygen and other compounds that give rise to the vital activity of biological organisms.
The data obtained are a serious reason for the entire world community and science to increase the activity of a more detailed study of Europe in the near future.American researchers are ready to offer practical developments to launch a new interplanetary probe to Europe that can land on the satellite’s surface and drill a few meters deep borehole. Thus, traces of organic life can be obtained under the ice shell of the space object in question.
