In 2014 Russian cosmonauts discovered sea plankton living on the International Space Station (ISS). While there isn’t an official consensus on how they got there, most scientists believe that uplifting air currents on Earth pushed the plankton into space. To the surprise of the cosmonauts, and the international scientific community, the plankton survived and was able to colonize visually sensitive areas of the ISS. The discovery has led to all sorts of theories, with some reaching into the realm of science fiction. Could animals within Earth’s oceans have descended from outer space? Could a meteor or comet carry planktonic life that then adapts to Earth’s oceans and forms a species hierarchy? For the most part, these questions remain unanswered and the sea life we have documented and studied all has terrestrial origins, having evolved and developed right here on Earth. Yet the fact remains, where there is liquid water, there is life. Staring out into the vast solar system, there is one place where a massive liquid ocean could churn beneath an icy crust, Jupiter’s infamous moon Europa. Europa:
Long before the 2013 film Europa Report, I featured Europa in my 2010 debut novella Neptune’s Garden. In Europa Report a team of astronauts venture out on a mission to the icy moon, and in my novella Europa is the home of an ancient aquatic species of humanoid. In both instances Europa served as an alien ocean, full of biological wonders and otherworldly oceanic life. In reality Europa is the sixth closest moon to Jupiter, and the smallest of Jupiter’s four Galilean (discovered by Galileo) satellites. Europa is in fact the sixth largest moon in our solar system, and was discovered in 1610 by Galileo. Europa got its name from the mother of Minos of Crete, whom was one of Zeus’ lovers. Europa is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon, and made of silicate rock with an ice-water crust. The moon is theorized to have an iron-nickel core, but astronomers and geologists aren’t certain what makes up the center of the small moon. Europa’s atmosphere is composed mostly of oxygen, and the moon’s surface is marked by streaks and cracks, with crater impact marks being rare on Europa. Astronomers theorize that the icy crust on Europa is astrologically young, and the smoothness of this ice leads many to believe that a liquid water ocean exists under the ice. Anywhere on Earth where liquid water exists, so does life, leading researchers to theorize that Europa’s ocean serves as home to extraterrestrial life.… More:
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