To support life as we know it. We’re constantly discovering life in places we didn’t think it existed: thermal vents at the bottom of the ocean, caves sealed off from the outside world for millions of years, trapped inside crystals, in lakes under the antarctic ice.
Based on calculations, not observations. And we know a lot is going on on the surface ice, even far more than I had realized. GEO GIRL on YouTube has a couple of great videos (one made with Geosociety’s channel) on the Europa Clipper mission and what it’s measuring and looking for. Until that info becomes available, we’re doing more speculation than anything else. And uh, life finds a way.
Also, how they’re accomplishing that mission, including the planned orbits and other aspects, is incredible.
link to paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67151-3
Yeah, and were once told, “All these worlds are yours. Except Europa. Attempt no landing there.”
Similarly, here in Seattle, we tell people it rains year round just like they have been told it does.
We also don’t like visitors.
Sad.
It’s not that bad, if the place has no life, maybe we can finally actually land something on it and go explorin’
And set up a refuelling plant. I’d feel a lot less bad about turning slush into propellant if we’re pretty certain there aren’t microbes in it.
I can’t wait until we do find some place which has some type of life not connected to us (I think the probability is high), and we get to fight out the Red/Green Mars arguments in Robinson’s Mars trilogy.
