Jupiter’s moon Europa may hold alien life clues in water plumes

Scientists believe that discovering extraterrestrial life might be possible by examining a small piece of ice from certain areas in our solar system. The moons orbiting Saturn and Jupiter, which have extensive oceans beneath icy surfaces, are considered potential habitats for alien life forms. Although powerful telescopes on Earth might soon be able to support these theories, a definitive confirmation would require analyzing water from these celestial bodies.

Extracting water from these distant locations poses a significant challenge due to the thick icy layers enveloping planets and their moons, such as Europa. However, scientists are optimistic about the geysers or plumes that shoot out from these icy shells as a feasible solution. Spacecraft have already been sent to traverse these plumes for scientific analysis.

Fabian Klenner from the University of Washington, the study’s lead author, stated, “We’ve demonstrated that even a small amount of cellular material could be detectable by a spacecraft’s mass spectrometer.” This breakthrough enhances the likelihood that future missions could identify Earth-like life forms in the oceans beneath the icy moons’ surfaces.

Evidence from past missions, like NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, has already found plumes on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, suggesting that these icy ejecta could contain signs of life. The upcoming Europa Clipper mission, set to launch in October, will be equipped with more advanced instruments than its predecessors to study Europa more thoroughly.

In a recent experiment simulating conditions similar to those space missions might encounter, researchers introduced water into a vacuum to create dispersing droplets. These droplets were then analyzed using laser stimulation and sensors similar to those planned for space missions.

The results from this ground-based experiment indicate that the technology being developed for future space explorations may be capable of detecting traces of life in the water vapor plumes, even if such biological material is exceedingly rare, existing in only a tiny fraction of the ice grains ejected from these oceanic moons.