SOFIA Space Observatory Studying Jupiter Moon Europa for Life Signs
by Tom Fish March 5, 2019 (express.co.uk)
• Dr. Amanda Hendrix, co-lead of the NASA Roadmaps to Oceans World Group, believes that studying the oceans of other worlds is the key to finding alien life beyond the Earth – albeit microbial life. “We need to understand whether these oceans are habitable and if so, whether these oceans actually host life,” says Dr. Hendrix.
• In 2017, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) flying observatory discovered that Jupiter’s moon Europa’s icy surface expelled water plumes containing approximately the amount of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. In 2018, the NASA Galileo probe flew through a giant plume of water vapor erupting from Europa. These plumes blast debris a hundred miles high, according to the spacecraft’s data.
• Hendrix reasons that life on Europa will most likely be clustered around hydrothermal vents on its subterranean ocean floor in a watery world of perpetual darkness. What passes for warmth on Europa is largely derived from tidal “kneading” caused by the colossal gravitational forces created by its orbit around gas giant Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet.
• [Editor’s Note] Mainstream scientists continue their long, drawn out process of pretending to seek alien life beyond Earth, in order to give the impression that smart people are doing their best but still cannot come up with anything beside a theory of microbial life in thermal plumes. Therefore, the public is reassured that we are the only intelligent life in the universe, reinforcing the Deep State delusion that the galaxy really isn’t teeming with intelligent civilizations, nor are government and private secret space programs interacting with extraterrestrial beings on a regular basis.
Humans have long pondered whether our world is unique in the universe in sustaining life. Scientists are increasingly confident “wet” worlds resembling Earth are the best place to start the search for alien life. And accordingly, US space agency NASA a craft to search for clues of early life on Jupiter’s moon Europa.
The NASA Galileo probe last year flew through a giant plume of water vapour erupting from Europa’s icy surface.
These plumes blast debris a hundred miles high, according to a fresh analysis of the spacecraft’s data.
The discovery has cemented the growing scientific consensus Jupiter’s moon, one of four first spotted by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610, is the most promising place in the solar system to hunt for alien life.
Now NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) spacecraft has revealed tantalising clues to understanding Europa’s environment and its subsurface ocean.
Such erupting water plumes contain approximately the amount of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Although’s SOFIA’s 2017 observations did not directly detect the plume, it did establish an upper limit on how much water could be in the plumes.
This upper limit is pivotal to ongoing NASA analyses into the contents and origins of the plumes, which will help reveal if Europa has the ingredients to support life.
Any life found on Jupiter’s moon Europa will have to be made of sturdy stuff.
Europa’s surface temperature never rises above -160C (-256F).
And what passes for warmth on Europa is largely derived from tidal “kneading” caused by the colossal gravitational forces created by its orbit around gas giant Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet.
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