Conditions Are Right for Life on Europa

"All these worlds are yours, except Europa," goes the line from "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Now we may know why the star baby wanted us to stay our distance from Jupiter's intriguing moon. According to an article in Science News, new research suggests that the Europan seas are rich in oxygen.

What that means, of course, is that Europa's seas may also be rich in ... life.

According to the article, "one researcher has calculated that the proposed ocean may receive about 100 times more oxygen than previous models indicated -- enough to support respiration by 3 million tons of fish or their Europan equivalent."

What makes this idea even more compelling is the length of time it would have taken, according to the model, for oxygen to make its way from Europa's land to its seas: 1 to 2 billion years. "That delay," the article explains, "would have been critical for supporting life because it would have allowed time for primitive organisms to develop the ability to use oxygen. If oxygen instead had been immediately released into the ocean, it would have destroyed fledgling life through the well-known process oxidation..."

So it's way past 2001. We're well on our way to 2012. Hopefully we'll get a chance to check out life on Europa before it checks us out first.

Photo courtesy of NASA