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EUROPA
What is europa?
 Galilean satellite
 Smallest of the Galilean moons
 6th largest moon in the solar
system
 First to show possibility of life
other than earth
Stats
 Discovered by Galileo Galilei in
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1610
Europa’s mass is 4.7998 x 10²²
kg
Surface area is 30,612,893 km²
Volume is 15,936,867,918 kmᶾ
Surface gravity is 1.315 m/s²
Europa's surface temperatures
range from -160C to -220C (260F to -370F)
Atmosphere
 Very thin atmosphere
 Ions from Jupiter’s magnetosphere
hit the surface and break apart the
water molecules
 Hydrogen escapes into space leaving
oxygen behind
Europa’s ocean
 Layer of thin ice all over
 Underground ocean
 http://www.redorbit.com/news/video/space_
2/1113019578/europa-subsurface-ocean120413/
orbit
 Orbit size around Jupiter is 672,100 km or 417,002 miles
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(distance from Jupiter)
The same side of Europa always faces Jupiter. It takes the same
amount of time to make one revolution on its axis as it does to
complete an orbit around Jupiter.
Sidereal rotation period (length of a day) 3.551 Earth Days
Orbit Circumference is 4,216,552 km
Average orbit velocity is 49,476 km/hr
Orbit cont’d
 Orbit is eccentric
 When close to Jupiter
higher tidal forces and
when farther lower
tides
 The sea under is going
high and low possibly
causing the cracks we
see in the ice on the
surface
Anatomy
 Made up primarily of silicate rock and iron.
 Surface is composed of water ice
 Scientist believe there is salt water underneath the frozen surface
 Hypothesis believe that there is extraterrestrial life within the
water
 Hubble Space Telescope discovered that Europa has water vapor
plumes that can reach 200 km high, more than 20x the height of
Mt. Everest
 Oceans are 100 miles deep with only a few miles of frozen ice
protecting it
 The lines on the surface of Europa are cracks in the ice with some
reaching 1,850 miles long
Life on europa
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Scientist believe that life could be on Europa
because the strong tidal heat could keep the
inside warm to have liquid under the ice layer
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Kevin hand from nasa’s jet propulsion lab
said, "If we've learned anything about life on
Earth, it's that where there's liquid water, there's
generally life."
New findings
 NASA’s Hubble space telescope
observed water vapors above
the frigid south polar region ,
first strong evidence of water
plumes erupting from the
surface
Fun facts
 Next mission is the European space agencies Jupiter icy moon
explorer (JUICE) due to launch in 2022
 There is actually a movie called EUROPA REPORT about a mission
that goes to europa to search for life
resources
 Seymour, Simon. Jupiter. New York. William Morrow and
Company INC.1985. Print
 Clark, K., et al. "Return To Europa: Overview Of The Jupiter
Europa Orbiter Mission." Advances In Space Research 48.4
(2011): 629-650. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
 "Europa: Facts About Jupiter's Icy Moon and Its
Ocean." Space.com. N.p., 3 July 2012. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
 "Solar System Exploration: Planets: Jupiter: Moons: Europa:
Overview." Solar System Exploration: Planets: Jupiter: Moons:
Europa: Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014