Europa: The First Alien World?

A photo of Europa courtesy of NASA's Galileo Spacecraft

While it’s nice to see the Spirit and Opportunity rovers wheeling about on the dusty, cinnamon-colored plains of Mars, there is another world which warrants some attention: Europa. If you’ve never heard of Europa, it’s no surprise. It’s not a planet, but a moon. And if you have heard of Europa, most likely it’s within the context of Jupiter. Europa is actually one of the four moons that Galileo first saw surrounding Jupiter when he turned his telescope toward the heavens and began his detailed observations. The Martian rovers’ primary missions have been to find evidence for life on Mars and to discover liquid water somewhere either beneath its surface or in the rocks. While we can assume that there might be bacteriological life either in fossil or living form (bacteria have been known to survive some of the coldest and hottest extremes on the planet Earth) somewhere on Mars, what’s interesting about Europa is that if we were to land a probe on it, it wouldn’t be long before that probe detected liquid water because just below Europa’s icy surface it is assumed there is an entire ocean of liquid water. The water doesn't freeze beneath the ice because it is being heated by the tidal forces caused between its interaction with Jupiter. Most scientists and astrobiologists will agree that water tends to be a kind of cosmic calling card whenever it comes to life on other worlds. It’s one of those things that astronomers look for in the spectral signatures of distant planets orbiting other stars. And while one can hope for at least some form of bacteriological or microbial life (extraterrestrial plankton, perhaps), others are looking at Europa as a potential haven for life on a much larger scale. Say, the Jovian equivalent of a sperm whale?

An artist's rendering of an alien
world courtesy of NASA.

Life is surprisingly abundant in even some of the harshest environments here on our planet. Drill down into the Antarctic ice and you’re liable to find small pockets of bacteria literally thriving in the permafrost. Take a submarine into some of the deepest parts of the ocean and there are bioluminescent wonders and creatures that look utterly alien swimming about where the sunlight cannot reach and where the pressure exceeds the tolerable limit of even the hardiest of ocean-dwellers. And off the coasts of certain islands there are vents that are hot with volcanic activity which host a surprising variety of bacteria which in turn support larger organisms and form complex ecosystems where life shouldn’t be able to exist at all. Churning in the dark cold waters of Europa might be an ecosystem analogous to the examples above. There could be a seafloor teeming with bacteriological life collected around volcanic vents and coral reefs that extend upwards miles high. Like my favorite fictitious mathematician Ian Malcolm loves to say, “Life finds a way.” These kinds of ideas are not too far-fetched. When the Voyager probes did their flybys years ago, they detected cracks in the icy surface of Europa where meteors had impacted. In addition to this there was a strange, brown discoloring around these cracks where the ocean below had filled in the gaps between the shattered plates of ice. Astronomers and biologists have concluded that these discolorations might be evidence of organic compounds. Mind you, that doesn’t conclusively prove that life exists under the ice. These are merely chemical compounds that biologists agree are essential to the formation of life. And Europa has had quite some time to form life of its own. Of course, all we have are pictures and spectrographs of Europa. That’s why the next step should be to land on its surface.

Let’s say we send a probe to Europa to study it. It’s more likely that we’ll find evidence of life in the ice of Europa as opposed to evidence of life in the dry, arid landscape of Mars (By no means  is the exploration of Mars is a waste of our time. I think it’s important for Mars to stay a priority because it keeps space exploration in the public eye). If there are life forms on Europa which are similar in composition and biology to those here on Earth and they have an aquatic ecosystem that bears any resemblance to our own, then it’s likely that frozen in the surface ice are various types of microorganisms. Or maybe even the remains of larger animals. Or perhaps evidence of underwater plant life. Imagine our surprise, however, when we actually drill through the ice, send down a submersible and view the stalk of an extra-terrestrial seaweed which has grown in low gravity extending upwards through the water for miles and miles. If that wouldn’t rekindle the passion we once had for space exploration, then it’s doubtful that any discovery would. And it’s unusual that Europa isn’t mentioned that often when discussions turn toward what our next step in the exploration of our solar system should be. But there Europa is, hanging in the night sky. With a telescope or even a good pair of binoculars it’s visible from Earth as one of the four dots of light around Jupiter. And with Jupiter being one of the brightest objects visible to the naked eye it can be somewhat humbling and awe-inspiring to glance up and see what is perhaps the planet which hosts the first extraterrestrial beings we will ever encounter.

There really is no reason—aside from maybe the funding of such a project—that a mission to Europa can’t be assembled and launched within five years. The technology is there and so are the minds. The visionaries can dream it and the engineers can build it. There has been more buzz about exoplanets and the compositions of their atmospheres then there has been about Europa and the possibility of life beneath its surface. And the possibility does exist. And being as it would probably be either microbial or bacteriological, it would change our perspective of what alien life really is. Aliens would no longer be green men zipping around beaming up hapless farmers and mutilating their cattle for reasons unbeknownst to us. Aliens would be no different than the insect larvae in a vile of pond water. Or the tadpoles in a stagnant puddle. All sorts of theories will arise as to the origins of the life on Europa. Some may argue that life arose on Europa as a result of small organisms blasted off from the Earth’s crust when life first formed. Others may argue that both life on Earth and Europa have the same origin—some distant asteroid carrying the life from another far away planet crashed down and seeded both worlds. Evolution then proceeded side by side over the span of eons. But for these arguments to take place, we have to first get samples of Europa’s ice for analysis. 

Once that’s done, we can drill through the surface and send down submersibles. Sound ambitious? Maybe. But Europa may open up the gateway for an entirely new field of science: Astromarinebiology. How cool would that Ph.D. degree look on a resume? And who knows? Maybe life—if there is life—on Europa has some sort of intelligence. It sounds like the dream of a sci-fi writer, but there could exist vast cities in Europa’s oceans populated by aquatic civilizations. But regardless if we ever find life in our solar system or not, it’s important to at least try. The absence of life here should spur us on to seek life elsewhere. We are always so focused on the things below us, here on Earth, that we hardly ever look to the things above us. Space is a potential avenue for us to improve our life here for everyone. Organisms on Europa wouldn’t stop death or wars, but it would give us an entirely new perspective on what our lives mean. Suddenly, it might not seem so important to fight over strips of land or the exact location of a country’s border. We’d be faced with the cosmic truth that we don’t really know as much as we believe and that there are things outside our lives over which we have no control. We’d be shaken up, but we’d be aware. And while we keep pointing our telescopes into the deepest parts of the night sky and observe galaxies on the edge of the known universe, the answer to all our searching may be here, not even a billion miles away, waiting for us, encircling one of the largest objects visible in our night sky.