Why Should We Explore Jupiter’s Moon Europa - 987 Words

Bruce Silver Professor Shawn Dry History 1520 14 June 2010 Why Should We Explore Jupiter’s Moon Europa? The planet Jupiter, some 500 million miles from Earth is a very unique planet. Besides being 1200-1500 (estimates vary) times larger than the Earth, The planet Jupiter is surrounded by a small solar system by itself. The planet Jupiter has some 72 moons orbiting it at present count, and these moons come in all shapes, sizes, and physical variations. Many of these moons have quite interesting characteristics, such as the moon Io, which has volcanic geysers that blast hot material some 300 miles above its surface, and mountains reaching heights as tall as 52,000 feet. But in contrast to Io, the moon Europa is a frozen world. But,†¦show more content†¦This could be accomplished by employing a submersible robotic probe which would bury its way through the ice, using a nuclear tipped heat source to melt the ice, and explore this vast ocean. Even if simple microbiological life were found, this would answer the greatest question of all time. If life formed independently in the great ocean of Europa, this discovery would prove that life exists throughout the universe, and have a profound effect on mankind’s view of his place in the universe. Sources and defense of sources: Tyler, Robert. â€Å"Strong Ocean Tidal Flow and Heating on Moons of the Outer Planets† Nature 456 (12 December 2008): 770-722. Professor Robert Tyler is an Oceanographer, and Affiliate Assistant Professor in Earth and Space Science at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory. Professor Tyler was one source of information I used in my paper (Tyler 770). I found this information in an article he authored in the journal Nature, which has been in existence since 1868. Nature is the worlds most highly cited interdisciplinary science journal, according to the 2008 Journal Citation Report Science Edition (Thomson, 2009). The journal Nature is a venue for authors of scientific papers on a variety of scientific subjects to get their work published. All papers are peer reviewed (see http://www.nature.com/authors/editorial_policies/peer_review.html) for