Some people think the search for non-earth sprouted life in our solar system is ludicrous, but really it might have been at our door this entire time. I think Europa has a good chance at having life. Why? Europa may have life because of the geothermal activity under its ocean, being old enough to start that seed of life, and having a deep ocean under an icy crust to protect possible life from radiation.

Why does geothermal activity possibly lead to life? Well 95% of life on geothermal vents on Earth, are unique to exactly that place. We also see some of the most primitive microbes in these vents, leading to the theory that life started there. Also, the majority of the life there is semi self-sufficient and only relies on the vents, whose minerals feed the microbes and the larger life feeds on them. In 1977, a team of researchers and scientists aboard the Knorr; a research boat, found an amazing discovery. Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, vents spurted warm water, chock full of minerals, into the bottom of the ocean. There they found spots near these vents teeming with life. Further research in 1977 and 1978 have led to a much more complete understanding of how life started. By learning more about our own world and planet, we have obtained a bigger picture about the universe we live in.

Europa is old, at least to our standards. Europa’s surface is about 100-200 million years old which is a LOT longer than humans have been around. In terms of the universe, Europa is pretty recent. It took a couple hundred million years for life to appear after Earth’s oceans formed, but it is likely that life could start up faster on Europa. Why? Io, another of Jupiter's moons, is a very volcanic moon, and often sends large amounts of material into space through an eruption. This material then speeds up very quickly due to Jupiter’s gravity and then smashes into Europa. Of course this material is still at the surface, not deep in the oceans where these minerals can be of use. Which also brings another question. If Europa has an ocean under the icy crust, why isn’t it frozen solid? Especially when the surface is -160 degrees celsius. The reason why is the stretching out of Europa. That wasn’t a joke. Another moon of Jupiter, Ganymede, is in an orbital resonance with Europa and Io. In this resonance, for every rotation Ganymede makes, Europa makes two, and Io makes four. (As shown below.)

This causes stretching to happen to Europa, where sometimes it's pulled more by Ganymede’s gravity and sometimes more by Io’s. This leads to an erratic orbit. This means Jupiter’s pull is stronger on one side than the other, causing the stretching. This constant squashing and stretching heats it up because of the tidal friction. When this happens to an entire moon, it generates enough heat to keep the ocean liquid. This effect is more pronounced as you get closer to Jupiter, which is why Io is so volcanically active. This is also how we know there’s an ocean under there. If there was no ocean, the flexing should be by about a meter. If it does have an ocean, then the flexing would be about thirty meters, which we see in Europa. The cracks we see are cycloids, which create a series of arcs and troughs, and line up with the stretching of the moon.

Finally, Jupiter’s radiation is no joke. It can fry the circuits of the most protected probes in a matter of weeks and would kill a human in hours. Thankfully, radiation has this thing where it just doesn’t like water. So any possibility of life on Europa would have no worry of dying from radiation, as a layer of water five meters thick would stop most of Jupiter’s radiation. With Europa having water, we get geothermal vents and little to no radiation to harm our little chance at life on that planet.  

Europa is our best chance at non-earth sprouted life. Mainly because it’s old enough, has geothermal activity, and has an ocean. Of course the chances are very slim, less than one in a thousand, but it’s the best chance we have in the solar system before an empty, dark, expanse. If that shot in the dark could help us learn about a whole new type of life, then I’m sure as heck taking it.

Works Cited

1. https://europa.nasa.gov/why-europa/ingredients-for-life/ 
2. We Might Find Alien Life In 2229 Days 
3. https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/1g4lu4r/finding_life_on_europa_would_be_far_bigger_then/ 
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon) 
5. https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/11/06/1106641/life-seeking-ice-melting-robots-could-punch-through-europas-icy-shell/ 
6. https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/planet-earth/why-is-the-earth-habitable/life-that-lives-off-the-earths-energy/life-at-the-hydrothermal-vents

Photo Credit: NASA

• Caption: Artist's View of Plumes on Europa. This is an artist's concept of the moon Europa, at right, with water-ice plumes erupting from its lower left limb at the 7 o'clock position. In the background, to the left, is Jupiter's orange, volcanic moon Io, and to the left of Io is Jupiter. Io's shadow appears in the center of Jupiter's face, left. Credits NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)