NASA has received new information from the Juno probe suggesting that enough oxygen is formed on Jupiter's moon Europa every day for about 1 million people to exist. Scientists first thought about the possibility of oxygen formation on Europa after the Galileo spacecraft's studies launched in 1989. Now Juno has confirmed researchers' belief that Europa's oceans may be enriching with oxygen.
Europe is covered in ice, which could hide oceans and possibly some form of biological life beneath them. The oxygen is formed on Europa as a result of Jupiter bombarding it with charged particles - the satellite is located in the giant planet's radiation belts. With the help of radiation, water molecules, i.e. ice on the planet's surface, can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, which is picked up by the probes' sensors. Juno's findings showed that Europa produces 12 kg of oxygen per second.
Studying oxygen production on Jupiter's moon will be one of the goals of NASA's Europa Clipper mission, which will launch in October 2024. When it arrives in the Jupiter system in 2030, the probe will need to determine whether conditions suitable for life exist on Europa./BGNES
