NASA Europa Announcement

[Shibby]

Supposedly there will be an announcement about Europa by NASA at 1pm EST (=6pm GMT, I think).

It will be live on NASA TV: NASA - NASA TV

Very intrigued...

[BigJohn]

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/europa_20111116.html

They appear to have found liquid water.

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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=55.723777,-3.965547

[nightfisher]

if they really have that will be a huge leap, very interesting

[msinclairinork]

Wow this is HUGE!!! Fantastic news!!

Michael

[Shibby]

It was a very interesting conference - in particular, they have found evidence of large lakes in the crust of Europa, whereas previously there was only evidence of the ocean far below.

So, it's been known for years that liquid water exists on Europa, but now it is this new "transfer of energy" that got the astrobiologist excited because it means Europa is now known to have all the elements required for life to survive!

[space minx]

oh my how interesting

[msinclairinork]

It was a very interesting conference - in particular, they have found evidence of large lakes in the crust of Europa

I'm not so sure it is direct evidence though - The way I read it (space.com) was that scientists found a relationship between Earth's Ice (Antarctica & Greenland) and Europa's; in which the concentrated cracked areas like ours could hold liquid water. Meaning instead of possibly just having a fast ocean hundreds of miles below Europa's ice, there could also be lake sized regions close to the surface.

A good place to send a probe I would imagine!

Hope NASA gets the funding soon for robotic exploration of Europa.

Michael

[Shibby]

Exactly! One of the panel said that these "chaos regions", as they have dubbed them, are prime targets for exploration.

The lake model is apparently the only one that can explain the dome shape produced, as water from the lake below seeps into the cracks then refreezes.

[Dave Dubya]

This hasn't been given a great deal to coverage for some reason, considering its rather important implications.

(Although after weirdly handled NASA press conference about the arsenic lifeforms in the lake a few months back, it's perhaps for the better)