Europa has enough water and oxygen (probably) for life…
New estimates on the amount of water and possible oxygen on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, show that it is not only available in tremendous quantities… but that it more than likely is in the right conditions to at least allow the potential of life.
Obviously, because of the vastly different conditions of both cosmic radiation and its distance from the sun – life would evolve quite differently on Europa than what we would imagine here on Earth… but for me the greater possibility is the use of Europa as a source of resources for human expansion in the solar system. Reading Foundations, it is obvious that Asimov knew the correlation between human expansion and the vast consumption of resources that it would require – something Star Trek rarely focused on. Any potential for us to leave the inner solar system and expand outward would depend on capturing resources from other worlds – NOT transporting them from Earth.
Exciting stuff!
http://www.physorg.com/news174918239.html
