Europa
The topic I choose is Europa, one
of the satellites of Jupiter. It was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. My
opinion is that Europa is capable of bearing life.
Liquid water, essential chemical
elements and sources of energy are the requirements for a life. Water is
essential for life, providing a medium for bio-chemical processes and
dissolving nutrition. Europa’s surface is an ice crust which is 15-25
kilometers thick and underneath it, lies a huge salty ocean, twice the volume
of Earth’s oceans. I’ve read that Hubble Space Telescope had found evidence
that Europa is actively venting water into space. We know, if there is water,
there is a life too. We should launch a spacecraft to Europa to collect the
samples of plumes of water to analyze further.
Europa’s ice surface has H2O.
The intense radiation from Jupiter may result different chemical bonds like O2,
CO2, SO2 and N2. They are important for living
beings, as an example for breathing.
Energy is important for carrying
out biological processes like maintaining cellular structures and growing.
Hydrothermal systems driven by tidal heating and the magnetic field are the
sources of energy in Europa.
So Europa fulfils above three
requirements and supports my opinion that Europa is habitable and may have a
life.
Additionally I think that the ice
crust of Europa acts as a protective shield against solar winds and harmful
radiation, protecting the life in the ocean beneath the ice crust. Though
Europa is located far away from the sun, the heat creates when the ice crust
expands and contracts under the influence of Jupiter’s tidal forces provides
appropriate temperature for the life and keep the ocean from freezing. The
beings live in the ocean may be insensitive to light because the light doesn’t
reach the ocean.
We should return to Europa
finding the life hidden under the ice crust. In our next Europa exploring
missions, we should send thermal or infrared cameras, spectrometers and ice-penetrating
radars to collect data about the atmosphere, chemicals and the interior of
Europa, and magnetometers to measure the magnetic field.
I’m sure future Europa missions
will prove my opinion and we would be able to see the life in Europa.
Walter Ravindu Sudasinghe
Grade 12
G/Karandeniya Central College