11/18/2023 0 Comments Discovery of io moonLava tubes are conduits underground through which lava once flowed. It’s abundant here, and the absence of water in an environment here largely coincides with an absence of life. Water serves as a solvent, and is involved in all manner of basic life processes for organisms on Earth. The difficulty for life on Io hinges on whether or not there is any water left on the desolate moon. In fact, lava tubes commonly play host to microbes on Earth, all around the globe, so it’s conceivable that the same thing could happen on a distant rock far away in the solar system. Instead, they could lurk within lava tubes beneath the surface. However, it’s unlikely these microbes would live on the surface, where temperatures are often well below freezing and radiation abounds. It’s believed that geothermal heat on the moon, combined with sulfur compounds, could serve as an energy source for simple microbial life. Theories about life on Io center around the materials present and its unique environment. However, a combination of radiation from Jupiter and the unrelenting tidal heating have likely long since driven away most of the water on Io, if any was once present. It’s possible that the small moon may have once held water, like Europa or Ganymede, as ice was once common in its part of the solar system. The lava is kept hot and flowing thanks to the tidal forces experienced by Io, thanks to Jupiter itself and nearby moons Europa and Ganymede. In fact, near areas of volcanic activity, temperatures can reach up to 1,600 ☌. It’s nevertheless is an energetic place, with eruptions capable of shooting lava hundreds of kilometers from the surface. Being so distant from the Sun, Io can be very cold, at up to -130 ☌ in places. Io is wracked by volcanic activity though, with active lava flows on the surface, with mountain ranges and plains interspersed with calderas left over from volcanic eruptions. In size, Io is roughly comparable to the Earth’s moon, also known as “The Moon”. Before Juno, our last visit to Io was with the Galileo spacecraft, over 20 years ago. That’s set to update our knowledge of the moon significantly. On a recent flyby, Juno got within 80,000 km of the so-called “pizza moon,” and a future pass will get as close as 1,500 km. New data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft suggests that despite this rugged, unhospitable exterior, Io could still host living things. Io, in comparison, is a hot and volcanic place. Io’s volcanic eruptions can be huge in scale, as seen by Galileo in 1997. It too plays host to subsurface oceans which could theoretically host life. Saturn’s moon Enceladus has also been considered a strong contender, for a plume of methane erupting from its surface. Given that we know life and water are so closely intertwined here on Earth, that has guided our search elsewhere. That’s largely down to the fact that those moons play host to subsurface oceans. Other moons of Jupiter, like Europa and Ganymede, have been considered far more likely candidates. When it comes to places to search for life, Io hasn’t really been at the top of the list. Let’s take a look at what makes Io special, and what we might hope to find there. The latest candidate for hosting nearby life is Jupiter’s moon, Io. Or perhaps more likely, look at under a microscope. That left scientists the world over to start looking elsewhere for new lifeforms for us to talk to, conquer, or play bridge with. Since then, we’ve concluded there isn’t, much to everyone’s disappointment. It was many years ago now when David Bowie asked if there was life on Mars.
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