Europa Water: Scientists Find Evidence Of Lakes On Jupiter's Moon

From the Huffington Post:

According to NASA, scientists have long thought that a huge ocean -- more voluminous than all of earth's oceans combined -- existed below Europa's surface. But since the moon is so far from the sun, the surface ice is thought to be tens of miles thick.

Now, scientists analyzing data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft have found ice blocks on Europa's surface that suggest an interaction between the moon's icy shell and a lake-like body of water under the surface, Discovery reports.

According to Britney Schmidt, the lead author of the study that appears in the journal Nature, this could mean nutrients and energy are moving between the ocean and icy shell.

More here.

Needless to say, if liquid water exists on Europa, there is a very good chance that life exists there, too. After all, not only did all life on Earth have its evolutionary origins in the oceans, but there are also, today, terrestrial lifeforms existing deep, deep, deep underwater, so deep that the Sun's light never shines there, receiving heat from seismic activity which warms pockets here and there, perfectly evolved to the environmental circumstances. Really, all you need is liquid water and carbon. If life evolved on our world under these conditions, why wouldn't the same thing happen on Europa?

I mean, it's probably not intelligent life, but then, why not? Dolphins and whales are highly intelligent. I suppose that's possible elsewhere, too. So this is exciting. We may not have to go very far at all to encounter alien life. Of course, it's also exciting, to me anyway, because exactly this scenario serves as a major plot point for Arthur C. Clarke's sequel to his 1968 book 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1982's 2010: Odyssey Two. Hopefully, whatever life might exist on Europa won't eat China's expedition there like it did in the book.

Whatever you might think about China, we really don't want them to be eaten by aliens.

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