A Crucial Ingredient for Life Is Bubbling Up on Europa
Jupiter’s ice-capped moon has a storehouse of carbon dioxide in its subsurface ocean. The post A Crucial Ingredient for Life Is Bubbling Up on Europa appeared first on Nautilus.
Something fizzy is brewing under the ice of Jupiter’s moon Europa—a familiar molecule that is inspiring fresh optimism in the search for life beyond Earth.
In recent years, Europa has emerged as a prime target for that search because it is overflowing with water. Beneath its frozen surface, has a balmy, globe-spanning ocean that may contain more than twice the liquid in Earth’s oceans combined. Life cannot get by with water alone, however; it also needs carbon. Now, aka the stuff of Pepsi bubbles.
