Interest in Europan Life
- Liquid water beneath the surface of Europa would make it an intriguing analog to the Earth in a number of ways.
- Whether there has been an independent origin of life on Europa?
- Whether there is an extant Europan biology?
- Whether anaerobic life could develop multicellularity, etc.?
- Assessing the potential existence of life on Europa there must be a concerted effort to understand the abiotic energy sources and material cycling systems that may be available
- Ice surface, ice subsurface, hydrothermal, tectonic, etc.
- Various chemical and physical measurements must be made to constrain the potential existence of biology, and/or biological processes in a Europan ocean
- First we must see about the ocean.