Jupiter Moon Europa's Jagged Ice Towers Could Imperil Robot Landers

[Judi Lynn]

By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | October 8, 2018 11:00am ET

Exploring the tropics of Jupiter's ocean moon Europa would be no walk on the beach.

Equatorial regions of the potentially life-supporting Europa, which harbors a huge ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy shell, are probably studded with blades of ice up to 50 feet (15 meters) tall, a new study suggests.

This finding should be of interest to NASA, which is developing a lander mission that will hunt for signs of life on the 1,900-mile-wide (3,100 kilometers) satellite. [Photos: Europa, Mysterious Icy Moon of Jupiter]

"Clearly, the paper suggests very strongly that the tropics of Europa are going to be spiky, and it would be unwise to plan to land there without a specially adapted lander," study lead author Dan Hobley, a lecturer in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at Cardiff University in Wales, told Space.com via email. "It would probably be safer to land further away from the equator!"

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[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Somebody has to post it...

[SWBTATTReg]

2. This is great, thanks for posting! Besides ...

the ice mountains being a peril, I imagine that building the rovers themselves would be a risk, putting them into the rockets themselves would be a peril, blasting off into the proper orbits would be a peril, in short, just about everything one can think of would be a peril, wouldn't it?

Just saying...

[ChazInAz]

3. "Ad astra per aspera"

"To the stars, through difficulties".

[SWBTATTReg]

4. A wise saying, my friend. Best to you, nt.

[Snackshack]

6. That's awesome !

2010 is a really cool movie.

[gtar100]

5. One of these days Europa is going to escape from Jupiter and become its own planet.

Then the ice will melt and life will thrive. But right now it is a planet in incubation plotting its escape from Jupiter's gravity.

[LakeSuperiorView]

7. If, by some chance Europa could escape Jupiter, it would be a frozed ice rock.

The ice wouldn't melt, the water would freeze solid. Jupiter's gravity is what keeps it warm(er) than what it would be if Jupiter were not present. It would have to be thrown into the inner solar system to not be frozen solid.

[gtar100]

8. Details that need to be worked out.

The frozen state is what will keep it intact until it finds a good orbit of its own.

[LakeSuperiorView]

9. At Jupiter's distance from the sun, it would be a frozen ice ball.

The only thing that causes it to have an interior water ocean is Jupiter's tidal forces. Remove Jupiter (somehow) and Europa starts to freeze. The only way Europa would not freeze solid is if removing Jupiter (which is impossible in any case) caused it to be thrown into the inner solar system. It is fantasy to think that Europa could wind up as a planet with liquid water.

[gtar100]

10. You mock fantasy as if it weren't real!

But your info is still fascinating. But impossible? That's only because we haven't figured out how to do it yet. If we somehow manage to survive republicanism and learn to live among the stars, the task of moving viable planets into the place just right may just end up being somebody's school project. Space travel isn't just for scientists, it's also for engineers, architects and craftsmen, along with writers, philosophers and artists. I'll also probably be long dead by then. But for our children's children's children? Go for it. Just be nice with each other. And play outside!

Peace. And thanks.