The subsoils of Europe, one of the moons of the planet Jupiter, would shelter an ocean that scientists consider potentially "habitable" and "compatible with life". The body of water is a hundred kilometers deep and lies beneath the icy surface of the natural satellite, says a study recently presented as part of the Goldschmidt Conference, bringing together geochemists from around the world, Numerama reports .
The authors of the work were based on data collected near Europe by the Galileo probe between 1995 and 2003. They were thus able to "model the composition and physical properties of the nucleus, the silicate layer and the ocean "Details the head of the study Mohit Melwani Daswani in a press release published on Wednesday.
"Discover a form of life"
Through simulations, the researchers discovered that the body of water, hidden under a layer of ice varying in thickness from 3 to 30 kilometers, was not as rich in sulfur as they initially imagined. “The water seems to have been enriched with sodium chloride. That is to say that its composition is close to that of the terrestrial oceans, analyzes the expert. Europe represents one of our best chances of discovering a form of life in the solar system ”.
The models developed by Mohit Melwani Daswani and his team also show that similar oceans are likely to exist on Ganymede, another moon of Jupiter, and on Titan, a satellite of Saturn. However, this work has not yet received the approval of other scientists.
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