{"id":267830,"date":"2026-01-31T23:07:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/267830\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T23:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:07:07","slug":"nasa-says-europa-is-covered-by-a-thick-icy-shell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/267830\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Says Europa Is Covered by a Thick Icy Shell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jupiter\u2019s moon, Europa, has long fascinated scientists. They believe it\u2019s covered in a massive salty ocean, holding almost twice<\/a> as much water as all of Earth\u2019s oceans combined, making it one of the best places<\/a> to look for extraterrestrial life in our solar system \u2014 but covered by a formidable icy shell.<\/p>\n

Now, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab scientists \u2014drawing on data from the agency\u2019s Juno mission, which performed a flyby of Europa in 2022 \u2014 have determined<\/a> that this particularly heavenly body is seriously thick, measuring an average of 18 miles in the region observed by the spacecraft.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve been able to hone in on a specific measurement. Previous estimates have ranged from half a mile to tens of miles, highlighting how much there\u2019s still to learn about Jupiter\u2019s icy moon.<\/p>\n

The estimated thickness of the shell could also have major implications for future efforts to study Europa\u2019s habitability. For one, nutrients and other building blocks like oxygen would have a very long way to travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf an inner, slightly warmer convective layer also exists, which is possible, the total ice shell thickness would be even greater,\u201d said Juno project scientist and co-investigator Steve Levin, coauthor of a paper<\/a> published last month in the journal Nature Astronomy, in a statement<\/a>. \u201cIf the ice shell contains a modest amount of dissolved salt, as suggested by some models, then our estimate of the shell thickness would be reduced by about three miles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more intriguingly, the scientists suggested in their paper that the \u201cice shell may contain subsurface cracks, faults, pores or bubbles,\u201d which could \u201cprovide pathways for habitability by facilitating the transport of oxygen and nutrients between the surface and the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

After examining data from Juno\u2019s microwave radiometer, the team found evidence of the \u201cpresence of cracks, pores or other scatterers extending to depths of hundreds of metres below the surface,\u201d supporting the tantalizing hypothesis.<\/p>\n

These cracks, they suggest, may only measure a few inches across, but they could extend hundreds of feet below the moon\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, that would still make them a poor pathway for oxygen and nutrients.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow thick the ice shell is and the existence of cracks or pores within the ice shell are part of the complex puzzle for understanding Europa\u2019s potential habitability,\u201d said Juno principal investigator and Southwest Research Institute scientist Scott Bolton in the statement.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, we\u2019re already planning to have another look with the help of NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper and the European Space Agency\u2019s Juice (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) spacecraft, both of which are already on their way to Jupiter and its enormous system of almost 100 known moons. The Europa Clipper is expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2030, and will then attempt to conduct almost 50 flybys of Europa. The ESA\u2019s counterpart, on the other hand, is expected to arrive in 2031<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Perhaps then we can have another glimpse of Europa\u2019s thicker-than-a-bowl-of-oatmeal crust.<\/p>\n

More on Europa: Scientists Intrigued by Large Spider-Like Blob on Europa<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jupiter\u2019s moon, Europa, has long fascinated scientists. They believe it\u2019s covered in a massive salty ocean, holding almost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[20179,85,46,139861,3955,3442,11376,141,139862,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-267830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-habitability","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-juno-mission","12":"tag-jupiter","13":"tag-nasa","14":"tag-our-solar-system","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-shell-thickness","17":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}