Somebody call up Mulder and Scully because scientists just came one step closer to finding the likeliest source of alien life in our solar system. A study published in Nature Astronomy has revealed that one of Jupiter's small moons, Europa, appears to have water plumes rising from its icy surface—validating the theories that a vast ocean capable of sustaining life lies beneath.
The study looked at the magnetic and plasma wave signatures captured by NASA's spacecraft Galileo, which reached Jupiter's atmosphere in 2003. Xianzhe Jia, the lead author of the study, told Mashable, "This is potentially great news for future exploration of Europa, because spacecraft may have a chance to directly sample materials that are linked to the subsurface ocean. Observations of plumes may tell us a lot about whether or not Europa’s ocean has the ingredients suitable for life."
Recent evidence obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope was what prompted scientists like Jia to take another look at data from Galileo's journey into Jupiter, which dates back to 1997 when it is suspected that the spacecraft flew through a plume of water that was erupting from Europa.
Jia explained that the data obtained by Galileo contained "peculiar signals in both the magnetic field and plasma wave data," that seemed to support their water plume theory, but other NASA scientists still aren't convinced that this 20-year-old data paired with recent Hubble telescope observations prove the existence of any present water plumes.
"To detect a plume for certain, we’ll have to return to the Jupiter system, and NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, currently in development, will do just that," Cynthia Phillips, a NASA researcher told Mashable.
For now, researchers must wait for any further studies into the potential habitability of Europa until a water sample is collected and analyzed for its chemical properties. Philips noted that collected plume material might not even be a direct sample of ocean water, but it would still "yield important insights into the composition of materials within Europa, and the potential for habitability—could there be environments on Europa where life could survive?" The truth is truly ~out there.~
