Facts about Europa's Ice Shell
- 07
Oxygen production from water ice photolysis creates an oxidant-rich surface layer on Europa's ice shell that could support microbial metabolism in the subsurface ocean below.
- 06
Chaotic terrain regions on Europa's ice shell display jumbled, hummocky features created by subsurface water percolating upward and refreezing, covering approximately 40 percent of the moon's surface.
- 05
Thermal imaging from NASA's Galileo spacecraft detected a warm region called Pwyll crater on Europa's surface, suggesting possible recent cryovolcanic activity through the ice shell.
- 04
Cracks in Europa's ice shell called lineae can extend hundreds of kilometers across the surface and may repeatedly open and close as tidal forces flex the moon.
- 03
Radiation from Jupiter's magnetosphere bombards Europa's ice shell with doses exceeding 540 rem per year, creating complex organic chemistry at the surface.
- 02
Cryobot missions proposed by NASA would melt through Europa's ice shell using a 10-centimeter-diameter heated probe to reach the subsurface ocean below.
- 01
Between 15 and 25 kilometers thick, Europa's ice shell overlies a subsurface ocean containing twice as much water as Earth's oceans combined.