Possibility of life on Europa greatly increases

[zonsb]

The thought that Earth has the only intelligent beings in our Universe; where did that thought or belief get legs? I think probably it's rooted in religious doctrine or dogma that splintered from it's mornings, to spread as memes often do.

source: Possibility of life on Europa greatly increases

Quote:Created on: November 19, 2011 Last Updated: November 20, 2011

With strong evidence emerging that Europa—one of Jupiter's most interesting moons—may contain huge life-giving waters under its icy surface, the probabilities now increase that life exists on at least several worlds in our solar system.

Since 1976 it's been thought by some that rudimentary life is eking out an existence on the Red Planet Mars, and some evidence suggests that life might exist in the swirling, acidic clouds of Venus, the electrically charged atmosphere of Jupiter, and the frozen methane lakes of Saturn's Titan.



Now NASA has released a significant finding culled from the reams of data gathered by the famous Galileo space probe mission that was launched by the now retired Atlantis space shuttle during 1989. The probe plumbed the mysteries of the Jovian giant and its myriad moons.

Galileo, they announced, appears to have "a body of liquid water the volume of the North American Great Lakes locked inside the icy shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa." [NASA]

A new study ["Active formation of ‘chaos terrain’ over shallow subsurface water on Europa"] appearing in the journal Nature, argues that Europa may have life and that many such watery regions that can support exotic alien life might exist in pockets across the moon's interior surfaces.

"The data opens up some compelling possibilities," Mary Voytek, the director of NASA's Astrobiology Program is quoted as telling a NASA news writer. "However, scientists worldwide will want to take a close look at this analysis and review the data before we can fully appreciate the implication of these results."

One of the study's lead authors, Britney Schmidt, told NASA "One opinion in the scientific community has been if the ice shell is thick, that's bad for biology. That might mean the surface isn't communicating with the underlying ocean. Now, we see evidence that it's a thick ice shell that can mix vigorously and new evidence for giant shallow lakes. That could make Europa and its ocean more habitable."

The key is the giant gas planet Jupiter. Its radiation continually baths the icy moon with radiation causing a build-up of heat in the depths far below the surface ice of the little world.

Geological processes occurring in the interaction between Europa and Jupiter is also creating an oxygen-rich environment. Many excited exobiologists agree that Europa is a perfect "soup" having all the ingredients needed to support aquatic lifeforms.

The study also investigated Europa's chaotic subsurface terrain. Scientists believe the geology itself may lend support to life by providing an avenue for nutrients and energy transfer between the forbidding surface of the moon and its darkest depths.

Because the ice is miles thick, plans are being discussed to launch a special cryobot [Photo] to Europa in the future. Such a probe would bore through the ice and explore the mysterious lakes far beneath the surface like a robot submarine.

What it may find is a mini-world teeming with life.

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[Dionysus]

Life on Europa: The dream never dies, and never grows up either

[zonsb]

Source: Extremophile

Quote:An extremophile (from Latin extremus meaning "extreme" and Greek philiā (φιλία) meaning "love") is an organism that thrives in physically or geochemically extreme conditions that are detrimental to most life on Earth.[1][2]
...
Types

There are many different classes of extremophiles that range all around the globe, each corresponding to the way its environmental niche differs from mesophilic conditions. These classifications are not exclusive. Many extremophiles fall under multiple categories. For example, organisms living inside hot rocks deep under Earth's surface are both thermophilic and barophilic.

Acidophile
An organism with optimal growth at pH levels of 3 or below
Alkaliphile
An organism with optimal growth at pH levels of 9 or above
Cryptoendolith
An organism that lives in microscopic spaces within rocks, such as pores between aggregate grains; these may also be called Endolith, a term that also includes organisms populating fissures, aquifers, and faults filled with groundwater in the deep subsurface.
Halophile
An organism requiring at least 0.2M concentrations of salt (NaCl) for growth[5]

Hyperthermophile
An organism that can thrive at temperatures between 80–122 °C, such as those found in hydrothermal systems
Hypolith
An organism that lives underneath rocks in cold deserts

Lithoautotroph
An organism (usually bacteria) whose sole source of carbon is carbon dioxide and exergonic inorganic oxidation (chemolithotrophs) such as Nitrosomonas europaea; these organisms are capable of deriving energy from reduced mineral compounds like pyrites, and are active in geochemical cycling and the weathering of parent bedrock to form soil
Metallotolerant
capable of tolerating high levels of dissolved heavy metals in solution, such as copper, cadmium, arsenic, and zinc; examples include Ferroplasma sp. and Cupriavidus metallidurans
Oligotroph
An organism capable of growth in nutritionally limited environments
Osmophile
An organism capable of growth in environments with a high sugar concentration
Piezophile
An organism that lives optimally at high hydrostatic pressure; common in the deep terrestrial subsurface, as well as in oceanic trenches
Polyextremophile
An organism that qualifies as an extremophile under more than one category
Psychrophile/Cryophile
An organism capable of survival, growth or reproduction at temperatures of -15 °C or lower for extended periods; common in cold soils, permafrost, polar ice, cold ocean water, and in or under alpine snowpack
Radioresistant
Organisms resistant to high levels of ionizing radiation, most commonly ultraviolet radiation, but also including organisms capable of resisting nuclear radiation
Thermophile
An organism that can thrive at temperatures between 60–80 °C
Thermoacidophile
Combination of thermophile and acidophile that prefer temperatures of 70–80 °C and pH between 2 and 3
Xerophile
An organism that can grow in extremely dry, desiccating conditions; this type is exemplified by the soil microbes of the Atacama Desert

In astrobiology

Astrobiology is the field concerned with forming theories, such as panspermia, about the distribution, nature, and future of life in the universe. In it, microbial ecologists, astronomers, planetary scientists, geochemists, philosophers, and explorers cooperate constructively to guide the search for life on other planets. Astrobiologists are particularly interested in studying extremophiles, as many organisms of this type are capable of surviving in environments similar to those known to exist on other planets. For example, Mars may have regions in its deep subsurface permafrost that could harbor endolith communities.[citation needed] The subsurface water ocean of Jupiter's moon Europa may harbor life, especially at hypothesized hydrothermal vents at the ocean floor.

Recent research carried out on extremophiles in Japan involved a variety of bacteria including Escherichia coli and Paracoccus denitrificans being subject to conditions of extreme gravity. The bacteria were cultivated while being rotated in an ultracentrifuge at high speeds corresponding to 403,627 times "g" (the normal accelaration due to gravity). Paracoccus denitrificans was one of the bacteria which displayed not only survival but also robust cellular growth under these conditions of hyperaccelaration which are usually found only in cosmic environments, such as on very massive stars or in the shock waves of supernovas. Analysis showed that the small size of prokaryotic cells is essential for successful growth under hypergravity. The research has implications on the feasibility of panspermia.[6][7]

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(11-21-2011 07:54 PM)Dionysus Wrote:  Life on Europa: The dream never dies, and never grows up either

Life on Europa: The dream never dies, and never grows up either Wrote:In fact, no evidence of life on Europa has ever surfaced.

Thanks for the source link.

Quoting the first paragraph of the article I posted at the top of this thread:

Quote:With strong evidence emerging that Europa—one of Jupiter's most interesting moons—may contain huge life-giving waters under its icy surface, the probabilities now increase that life exists on at least several worlds in our solar system.

Bold emphasis mine.

I think my previous post on Extremophiles is more revealing of the probability of extraterrestrial life.

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[zonsb]

(11-21-2011 07:54 PM)Dionysus Wrote:  Life on Europa: The dream never dies, and never grows up either

From the About page at that website:

Quote:Uncommon Descent holds that…

Materialistic ideology has subverted the study of biological and cosmological origins so that the actual content of these sciences has become corrupted. The problem, therefore, is not merely that science is being used illegitimately to promote a materialistic worldview, but that this worldview is actively undermining scientific inquiry, leading to incorrect and unsupported conclusions about biological and cosmological origins. At the same time, intelligent design (ID) offers a promising scientific alternative to materialistic theories of biological and cosmological evolution — an alternative that is finding increasing theoretical and empirical support. Hence, ID needs to be vigorously developed as a scientific, intellectual, and cultural project.

I concur.

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