Oct 17 2009Europa Has Enough Oxygen To Support Life?
So apparently one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, might have enough oxygen to support life. Well that's cool BECAUSE I'M TOTALLY MOVING THERE. Who's with me? You better shower!
The global ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa contains about twice the liquid water of all the Earth's oceans combined. New research suggests that there may be plenty of oxygen available in that ocean to support life, a hundred times more oxygen than previously estimated.
The chances for life there have been uncertain, because Europa's ocean lies beneath several miles of ice, which separates it from the production of oxygen at the surface by energetic charged particles (similar to cosmic rays). Without oxygen, life could conceivably exist at hot springs in the ocean floor using exotic metabolic chemistries, based on sulfur or the production of methane. However, it is not certain whether the ocean floor actually would provide the conditions for such life.
Hell yeah, Europa -- I've always wanted to visit Holland! Do they really wear those wooden shoes?
Jupiter's Moon Europa Has Enough Oxygen For Life [physorg]
Thanks to Kelly, who can come with me provided she steer the spaceship while I get drunk and puke out a porthole.
Reader Comments
1. J.Metallic - October 17, 2009 5:08 PM
I'm there!
2. Closet Nerd - October 17, 2009 5:10 PM
We only know 1% of ALL the species that exist in our own oceans.... imagine what could be up there....
3. michael - October 17, 2009 5:12 PM
i went there a couple weeks ago for a pool party
4. Iris - October 17, 2009 5:12 PM
I'll go with you GW!
I think I'll come in very handy :)
5. meowmo - October 17, 2009 5:38 PM
eat shit creationists.
6. jaja - October 17, 2009 5:42 PM
OH GW ! YOU'VE MADE ME THE HAPPIEST GAL IN THE WORLD !!!
Take me with you to Europa where we can make love to dinosaur pictures...
Btw I'm a dude.
7. Topher - October 17, 2009 5:52 PM
Rocky interior? Metallic core? Pffft, I'm not moving to any planet that doesn't have a creamy nougat center.
8. Ciao - October 17, 2009 5:57 PM
blech, just a theory that's a metallic center...and yeah perhaps it may also hols that creamy nougat center just like our lovely dynamic rock.
9. Leo N. - October 17, 2009 6:19 PM
@5: die in a fire.
10. Pip Phipps - October 17, 2009 6:21 PM
I read that as Europe has enough oxygen to support life; needless to say I was rather surprised: then I reread and laughed.
11. Lito - October 17, 2009 6:54 PM
Hey, wooden shoes are from holland not switzerland ! Anyway, I hope life's under that big icy thing... Maybe we can do the same thing europe did with americas, we could put them all to slavery, and not feel bad about it, because this time, we'll be sure they're not human ! Ha !
12. ghb - October 17, 2009 7:08 PM
@11 Wooden shoes are traditional in France (sabot), the UK (pattens), Northern Italy (palotis, galosis or dalminis), southern Switzerland (also palotis, galosis or dalminis) and Spain, as well as Holland.
13. mrrgl - October 17, 2009 7:34 PM
Oxygen is not required for life. Life existed for billions of years on this planet without oxygen and continues to do so. On this planet, oxygen is plant shit.
What is interesting about this finding is that an abiotic mechanism for oxygen production could give the evolution of large multicellular organisms a billion year head start ahead of this planet.
14. micko - October 17, 2009 8:34 PM
I bet Jesus put it there to test our faith... Just like the dinosaurs
15. thatguy - October 17, 2009 8:37 PM
I’m sorry. But why are we wasting resources on something this frivolous when the civilized world as we know it is collapsing. Think of how much progress we could have made if we took the eleven trillion dollars we blew finding oxygen on Europa, and spent it on cloning dinosaurs. Dinosaurs would have so many more uses than oxygen on Europa.
If we clone dinosaurs, the world is saved. End of story.
16. Stepha - October 17, 2009 10:02 PM
Does no one remember 2012? All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there. I'm not messing with that.
17. Jared - October 17, 2009 10:43 PM
So I want to know; can humans breath liquid oxygen? If so i also wanna know just how cold it would be and if I could swim in it, cause it be like swimming unless the gravity is like super intense but i don't know the size of europa so i can't judge.
18. rad to the power of power of me - October 17, 2009 11:17 PM
@10 same here friend. I was very confussed for a bit. Everyone else let me know how it is and I might visit. Screw ice livin & screw the cold and screw methane and sulfur .... that stuff stinks.
19. Dishy Dishyington - October 18, 2009 12:59 AM
I wonder what the life there tastes like? And how many nukes will it take to melt a hole in that ice so we can find out?
20. Dishy Dishyington - October 18, 2009 1:08 AM
@17, yes humans can breath liquid oxygen. You do it whenever you drink coca-cola. And Europa's cold but it can't hurt you if you take lots of B vitamins. But Europa is 4.4 light-years across, almost half as big as the sun and moon combined, and the gravity at the center is so intense that time runs backwards, so you'd want to float on your back and wear flippers.
Hope that answers your questions.
21. mofohurts - October 18, 2009 1:40 AM
i will make beautiful babies with the locals from europa
send me to space nasa
it really fking hurts
http://mofohurts.wordpress.com/
22. john - October 18, 2009 1:43 AM
couple of things. First you could like put a piece of land there u know like an oil rig thing and people couldlive there second ok what if you put fish there and they lived then u would have something to eat.
23. eris - October 18, 2009 2:38 AM
@16 That is exactly what I came here to comment.
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA.
ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.
Do not defy the monoliths.
24. wellwell - October 18, 2009 2:46 AM
my dong is small and lankylike
25. EdB - October 18, 2009 6:24 AM
@16 - You mean 2010 right?
Screw you monolith architect, Europa ftw! Pass the harpoon Nancy, I'm going Nessy huntin'
26. Haas - October 18, 2009 7:31 AM
Wooden shoes yeah, at least people don't think where fat :P
27. squeehunter - October 18, 2009 7:34 AM
@5
You didn't read the part "However, it is not certain whether the ocean floor actually would provide the conditions for such life." This news doesn't really have an effect for either side. As someone else said, the early earth didn't have high levels of oxygen anyway.
@14 and 5
I clicked on the comments here because I knew I would find the usual Jesus/dinosaur comment, and the usual douchiness, as expected regarding a post with the slightest hint regarding the origin of life, or evolution.
28. Josiah - October 18, 2009 8:22 AM
@27
Here is a polite posting with a hint of evolution.
I'm sorry most anti-creationists who make a point to speak up in public are jerks, I wish that wasn't the case. However, evolution makes more sense then creationism.
Your friendly neighborhood Atheist,
Josiah
29. drbadnick - October 18, 2009 8:32 AM
-220*c is pretty nice weather.
30. meowmo - October 18, 2009 1:45 PM
@28 Peace
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32. Massoccur - October 18, 2009 10:20 PM
count me in
=D
33. Geekolojew - October 19, 2009 8:15 AM
Must See!!!
http://alturl.com/obg7
________________
34. Jaded Icon - October 19, 2009 8:32 AM
Time for some ice fishing!
35. Whippedcream - October 19, 2009 11:59 AM
Im from The Netherlands, and we don't wear wooden shoes. Its a cultural thing, like folklore. You'd have to be pretty naive to think people in Europe are wearing shoes made of actual wood, come on!
36. The Joker - October 20, 2009 7:31 AM
@GW
Ofcourse we all wear wooden shoes! We also smoke pod all day long, and
eat cheese while we do things in the red light district.
Viva Hollandia! and yes, im from Holland.
37. Apotheker - October 21, 2009 5:08 AM
@ 36;
Way to go Captain Obvious!
38. LB - February 2, 2010 8:50 AM
Hello people, I am from the Netherlands or Holland ( = a piece of the Netherlands). About the wooden shoes, most people don't wear wooden shoes, but some peole still do. Not in the city but some people in small villages or some farmers do. About half a mile from where I live A man wears wooden shoes as long as I know him - about 20 years. He takes them of when he goes to bed. It are real wooden shoes made from 1 piece of wood- 2 pieces for a pair of course.