Study Casts Doubt on Potential For Life on Jupiter's Moon Europa (nature.com)
(Tuesday January 06, 2026 @05:40PM (msmash)
from the tough-luck dept.)
- Reference: 0180529125
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/01/06/1913207/study-casts-doubt-on-potential-for-life-on-jupiters-moon-europa
- Source link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67151-3
Jupiter's moon Europa is on the short list of places in our solar system seen as promising in the search for life beyond Earth, with a large subsurface ocean thought to be hidden under an outer shell of ice. But [1]new research is [2]raising questions about whether Europa in fact has what it takes for habitability . Reuters:
> The study assessed the potential on Europa's ocean bottom for tectonic and volcanic activity, which on Earth facilitate interactions between rock and seawater that generate essential nutrients and chemical energy for life. After modeling Europa's conditions, the researchers concluded that its rocky seafloor is likely mechanically too strong to allow such activity.
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> The researchers considered factors including Europa's size, the makeup of its rocky core and the gravitational forces exerted by Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet. Their evaluation that there probably is little to no active faulting at Europa's seafloor suggests this moon is barren of life.
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> "On Earth, tectonic activity such as fracturing and faulting exposes fresh rock to the environment where chemical reactions, principally involving water, generate chemicals such as methane that microbial life can use," said planetary scientist Paul Byrne of Washington University in St. Louis, lead author of the study published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. "Without such activity, those reactions are harder to establish and sustain, making Europa's seafloor a challenging environment for life," Byrne added.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67151-3
[2] https://www.reuters.com/science/study-casts-doubt-potential-life-jupiters-moon-europa-2026-01-06/
> The study assessed the potential on Europa's ocean bottom for tectonic and volcanic activity, which on Earth facilitate interactions between rock and seawater that generate essential nutrients and chemical energy for life. After modeling Europa's conditions, the researchers concluded that its rocky seafloor is likely mechanically too strong to allow such activity.
>
> The researchers considered factors including Europa's size, the makeup of its rocky core and the gravitational forces exerted by Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet. Their evaluation that there probably is little to no active faulting at Europa's seafloor suggests this moon is barren of life.
>
> "On Earth, tectonic activity such as fracturing and faulting exposes fresh rock to the environment where chemical reactions, principally involving water, generate chemicals such as methane that microbial life can use," said planetary scientist Paul Byrne of Washington University in St. Louis, lead author of the study published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. "Without such activity, those reactions are harder to establish and sustain, making Europa's seafloor a challenging environment for life," Byrne added.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67151-3
[2] https://www.reuters.com/science/study-casts-doubt-potential-life-jupiters-moon-europa-2026-01-06/
Life... (Score:2)
by whitroth ( 9367 )
...but not as we know it, Jim.
Fuck it (Score:2)
by backslashdot ( 95548 )
I still wanna move there, or Pluto and wouldn't mind having to stay indoors most of the time as long as there's windows. The colored ice mountains and Jupiter in the sky Pandora-style must look fucking amazing.
I've never been there (Score:2)
by OrangeTide ( 124937 )
So I don't actually know.
Sounds like too much guessing (Score:3, Informative)
...the only way to know for sure is to go there, poke into it, and sniff around. Europa is subject to tidal heating which provides energy, and there may be under-water volcanoes or geysers that can provide nutrients from lower layers. Its neighboring moon, Io, is chalk full of volcanic activity.
Re: (Score:3)
"If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong." -- Arthur C Clarke
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately, we can attempt no landing there.
Re: (Score:1)
That's what they(*) said about Venezuela.
(*) Although not the supremely powerful space beings, AFAIK.
Re: (Score:2)
Io and Europa are geologically very different bodies, though.
You may as well say, "But Earth has liquid oceans!"
Io is a terrestrial planet. Europa is an ice ball with considerably less rock to absorb energy. It's probably telling that there is no evidence whatsoever of non-ice tectonics, while it's neighbor, as you pointed out, looks like Vulcan's forge.
That all being said, one thing Europa is known to do, is circulate shit that lands on its surface into its subsurface ocean, and while it probably does
Re: (Score:2)
> Io and Europa are geologically very different bodies, though. You may as well say, "But Earth has liquid oceans!" Io is a terrestrial planet. Europa is an ice ball with considerably less rock to absorb energy. It's probably telling that there is no evidence whatsoever of non-ice tectonics, while it's neighbor, as you pointed out, looks like Vulcan's forge. That all being said, one thing Europa is known to do, is circulate shit that lands on its surface into its subsurface ocean, and while it probably doesn't have any volcanic activity, as you pointed out- its neighbor is spewing its innards all over the inner Jovian system.
If there are any chemicals in the rocky core of Europa that could be stirred into the water column, the continual circulation through the eons has probably pulled quite a bit out. It would cause erosion on the surface layers at the very least, and if it's violent enough, may even cause fissures that travel fairly deep, depending on how long any given strong current might last.
Or at least that would be the "hopeful" take on its basic chemical possibilities.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe.
Europa is tidally locked. It's not clear that its ocean contributes to much erosion at all.
Also, the oceans of Earth have also had eons to erode minerals from their rocky substrate, yet life doesn't appear to have leaped forth from the abyssal plains, but rather concentrates around geothermal vents.
I suspect if we do a bit of math, we'll see that the maximum amount of possible minerals eroded from the lithosphere turns into vanishingly small trace amounts across the entire volume of its ocean, wh