Europa and TitanLife in the Outer Solar System

How does life begin?The general idea for chemical evolution is:Organic matter + Liquid water + Energy

= Life…Maybe

When looking for life…

Follow the Water

This is Europa• Sixth moon of Jupiter• 3,100 km in diameter (slightly smaller than our moon)

Why Europa?Possible ocean below the icy surfacePossibility of hydrothermal vents (energy)OrganicsConditions on Europa could have fostered

life at one time

Galileo SpacecraftLaunched in 1989 Ended in 2003Jupiter MissionMagnetic data provided evidence that Europa

may have a salt water ocean.

Europa Surface

This is Titan•Largest moon of Saturn•About 80% more massive than our moon

Why Titan?Possibility of liquid waterDense atmosphereOrganicsMethane or Ethane Lakes

How will we find out?Europa

Hyrdrobot/CryobotNASA-JIMO (Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter)

TitanCassini-Huygens Mission

What will we look for?Hydrobot/Cryobot (Proposed, not planned)

Drill through ice crustRelease “Hyrdobot” into hypothetical oceanSearch for hydrothermal vents and micro-

organismsNASA-JIMO (Canceled in 2005)

Orbit Europa and map the planetLook for signatures of life

ESA’s Europa Jupiter System Mission?We’ll know in 2013

Hydrobot/Cryobot

What will we look for?Cassini-Huygens :

Cassini: Saturn OrbiterHuygens: Titan ProbeObserve the surface

Volcanoes, lakes, seasWaterOrganic profiles

Cassini-HuygensLaunched in 1997Cassini still functioning Huygens probe landed on Titan in 2005Found: Methane and/or Ethane LakesHydrocarbon Sand DunesPossibility of internal liquid water-ammonia

ocean

Titan Sand Dunes

Earth Sand Dunes

Methane and/or Ethane Lakes

Methane and/or Ethane LakesTheorized that dark areas were liquidCassini’s radar beams were reflected which

usually indicates liquidsAt 94K, liquids were mostly likely to be

methane and/or ethaneTitan’s atmosphere contains methane

Ontario Lacus•Contains Ethane•Determined by Spectroscopy

IssuesOceans on Europa are still theoreticalDirect investigation of ocean’s could lead

to contaminationTitan is very cold (94 K), and unlikely to

support life