On September 29, 2022, the Junocam imager aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft captured Jupiter's icy moon Europa during a close flyby of the mission.
*Data: NASA JPL-Caltech SWRI MSSS
*Handling: Kevin M gill cc by 3.0
The snow-covered moons of Jupiter produce 1,000 tons of oxygen every 24 hours, enough to sustain a million people for a day's breathing.
Scientists on NASA's Jupiter Juno mission calculated that Jupiter's moon Europa produced much less oxygen than most previous studies. The findings, published March 4 in the journal Nature Astronomy, were made by measuring the release of hydrogen from the icy lunar surface using data collected by the spacecraft's Jupiter Aurora Distribution Experiment (JADE) instrument.
The authors of this ** estimate that the amount of oxygen produced is about 26 pounds (12 kilograms per second). Previous estimates ranged from a few pounds per second to more than 2,000 pounds (more than 1,000 kilograms per second). Scientists believe that some of the oxygen produced in this way could enter the moon's subterranean oceans as a possible source of metabolic energy**.
With an equatorial diameter of 1,940 miles (3,100 km), Europa is the fourth largest of Jupiter's 95 known moons and the smallest of Galileo's four. Scientists believe that beneath its icy crust lurks a vast internal ocean of saltwater, and they are curious about the possibility of life-supporting conditions below the surface.
The diagram shows charged particles from Jupiter striking Europa's surface, turning frozen water molecules** into oxygen molecules and hydrogen molecules. Scientists believe that some of this newly produced oxygen may migrate to Europa's subterranean ocean, as shown in the illustration. Credit: NASA JPL-Caltech SWRI PU It's not just water that has caught astrobiologists' attention: the location of Jupiter's moons also plays an important role in biological possibilities. Europa's orbit places it right in the middle of the gas giant's radiation belt. Charged or ionized particles from Jupiter bombard the icy surface, splitting water molecules** into two parts, producing oxygen that could enter Europa's oceans.
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