Europa is one such satellite of Jupiter that has attracted humans since its
discovery.
Human has always believed that life is most likely to exist on
Europa and there are real reasons for this.
But today we will discuss
why there is no possibility of life on Europa.
Facts about Europa
Europa
is Jupiter’s sixth satellite. Europa is slightly smaller than our
Earth’s moon and slightly larger than Pluto.
Europa was discovered by
Galileo Galilei on 8 January 1610. Its diameter is 3100 km.
Europa
orbits Jupiter in 3.5 days. The age of Europa is the same as that of
Jupiter, that is, 4.5 billion years.
Europa’s maximum temperature is -160 °C and the minimum temperature is at its pole which is -220 °C.
Europa is completely covered by ice and that is
why it is the brightest satellite in our solar system.
Due to its snow
cover, it reflects most of the light falling on it and that is why it
appears so bright.
Europa, like Earth, is made of silicate stones and
its core is made of iron.
But Europa’s surface is completely covered by
water and ice. Above the surface of Europa is a layer of ice about 150
km thick.
Scientists believe that
there may be an ocean beneath this surface of Europa’s ice.
Many cracks
are visible on the surface of Europa’s ice, and the cause of this crack
may be the tides coming in Europa’s ocean.
When Europa approaches Jupiter, the tides come and when it
goes away, the tides return to normal.
This is the reason for the many
cracks on the surface of Europa’s ice.
There is 10 times as much oxygen as there is hydrogen on
Europa, which means that Europa has the same amount of oxygen as Earth.
Why life is not possible on Europa
Europa is considered one of the best candidates to sustain life in the solar system.
Despite its extreme conditions, the moon hits the trifecta of requirements for life as we know it: water, energy, and chemical building blocks.
Water,
ice and oxygen are the things that make Europa compatible for life.
But still human life is not possible on Europa and there are many
logical reasons for this.
One of the biggest issues with Europa is that it’s gravity is very-very weak.
It’s value is 1.315m/s2 and Earth’s is 9.81m/s2.
That is approximately 13.4 percent of Earth’s gravity.
Humans have been in space, and some people have been up there for time
periods of over a year.
We have noticed, even for people who only spent a
few weeks up there, that bones and muscles weaken tremendously.
This is
why astronauts have to exercise so much in low gravity so that they can
prevent those changes.
So even in low gravity like Europa those effects
will still happen.
Mars’ gravity is about 3.711m/s2, so it wouldn’t be as bade there, but spending as time in gravity lower than Earth’s will cause adverse changes.
Also, very importantly, we do not know exactly how babies will grow and
be born in low gravity.
Chances are they will look very much different
than people from Earth, among other things.
Another big issue with Europa colonization is the climate and atmosphere.
The surface temperature of Europa is not
very friendly towards humans.
The lowest temperature ever recorded on
Earth was -89.2 degrees celsius in Antarctica.
Average temperature on
Europa? -120 degrees Celsius.
And that isn’t even at the poles, the
temperature at the poles gets down to -220 degrees C.
Humans cannot live
in that kind of temperature. This temperature is because of the extreme
distance from the Sun and the absence of a strong atmosphere.
Atmosphere?
The atmosphere is composed of solely oxygen.
But that does
not mean we can breath it. We would need an atmosphere with a pressure
of around 1-atm (atmosphere) to be able to live.
One good thing
about Europa is that there may be a water ocean beneath the surface.
And
one of the biggest issues with colonizing any planet or moon is the
lack of liquid water.
And lastly, and issue with Europa is that
it does not have a magnetic field.
Ganymede (largest Jupiter Moon) even
has a magnetic field.
What a magnetic field helps to do is it helps to
protect the surface from dangerous rays from the Sun.
Earth has a very
strong magnetic field which is one reason why we live so comfortably
here on Earth.
So overall, we probably cannot colonize Europa.
That is, unless we want to set up a “moon” base there for some reason.
But there would not be much of a point because of all the issues.
All these issues are mostly shared by almost all terrestrial planets and Moons in the solar system.
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