Europa
Europa may refer to:
Places
* Europe
* Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace
* Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro
* Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development
* Europa Cliff ...
, the
fourth-largest moon of
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
, is a subject in both
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
and scientific speculation for future human
colonization
Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
. Europa's geophysical features, including a possible subglacial
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
ocean, make it a possibility that human life could be sustained on or beneath the surface.
Feasibility
Europa
Europa may refer to:
Places
* Europe
* Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace
* Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro
* Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development
* Europa Cliff ...
as a target for human colonization has several benefits compared to other bodies in the outer
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
, but is not without challenges.
Conditions conducive to life
On a
flyby mission around Europa in 1979,
Voyager 1
''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. Launched 16 days after its twin ''Voyager 2'', ''Voya ...
and
Voyager 2
''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. As a part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, ''Voyager 1'', on a ...
took relatively detailed photographs of the moon's surface. They noted several important characteristics including dark streaks across the surface, or
lineae
Linea (plural: lineae ) is Latin for 'line'. In planetary geology it is used to refer to any long markings, dark or bright, on a planet or natural satellite, moon's surface. The planet Venus and Jupiter's moon Europa (moon), Europa have numero ...
, and an otherwise remarkably smooth icy crust. The lineae are believed to be the result of icy
tectonic plates
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...
moving over a submerged ocean. Moreover, the smooth crust is believed to be the result of its recent formation.
Submerged water may have risen to cover the older, more damaged surface and smooth it over. These surface features indicate the existence of a subsurface ocean. Given water's importance to life on Earth, it is considered to be a possible indicator of life on other celestial bodies.
Challenges
Environment
The
high radiation on Europa's surface is one of the environmental challenges to colonization. Europa receives 5.4
Sv (540
rem
Rem or REM may refer to:
Music
* R.E.M., an American rock band
* ''R.E.M.'' (EP), by Green
* "R.E.M." (song), by Ariana Grande
Organizations
* La République En Marche!, a French centrist political party
* Reichserziehungsministerium, in Nazi G ...
) of radiation per day, which is approximately 1,800 times the average annual dose experienced by a human on Earth at sea level. Humans exposed to this level of radiation for one day would have greater than a 50% mortality rate within 30 days.
Another problem is that the surface temperature of Europa averages around 90K, or -183 °C.
Furthermore, the low gravity of Europa may also present challenges to colonization efforts. The
effects of low gravity on human health are still an active field of study, but can include symptoms such as impaired eyesight and a diminished sense of balance. Negative health effects can also include muscle deterioration and
bone loss
Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to bone fragility, and consequent increase in fracture risk. It is the most common reason for a broken bone ...
. Galactic cosmic radiation along the journey is likely to lead to an increased chance of developing
Alzheimer's Disease. Astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
s in Earth's orbit have remained in microgravity for more than a year at a time and have had to develop countermeasures to address its negative effects. Experts have also hypothesized that children born and raised in low gravity would not be well adapted for life under the higher gravity of Earth.
Moreover, experts have speculated that
alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
organisms may exist on Europa, possibly in the subsurface ocean under the moon's ice shell.
If true, this would mean human colonists may come into contact with harmful
microbes
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
.
An unstable surface could also represent a potential problem as it has been shown that Europa is geologically active. With an outer crust experts believe is made of constantly shifting
plate tectonics
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...
, Europa's surface would make it difficult to maintain the structural integrity of any long-term infrastructure.
Transportation
The transportation of humans to Europa would be one of the primary challenges to colonization. Since Jupiter is on average 630.4 million kilometers away from Earth at a given time, it would take at least 3 years just to get into Europa's orbit plus additional time to land. In an effort to develop transportation methods to Mars and other planets, NASA has announced a program called
NextSTEP
NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT Computer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its range of proprieta ...
that will merge the efforts of public and private industry to begin the research and architectural design necessary to create an
Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) system. The ECLS is currently being designed for Martian operations, will be called the
Deep Space Transport
The Deep Space Transport (DST), also called Mars Transit Vehicle, is a crewed interplanetary spacecraft concept by NASA to support science exploration missions to Mars of up to 1,000 days. (DST) and will allow for missions up to 2.75 years long. The transport vehicle to Europa will be similar to the DST and the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
(ISS), but will also be different in several key aspects. Most importantly, the transport vehicle for Europa would need to be completely self-sufficient so that all the
nutritional supplies are included at the onset of the flight, along with the ability to repair any systems that malfunction or break on the voyage. The vehicle would also need to be resistant to radiation because the levels of radiation on this trip would be significantly higher than on Earth. The shielding around the ship would have to be increased to prevent exposure to harmful radiation. While these considerations are prohibitively expensive and require development of current technologies, it is not impossible that a continuation of the DST would meet the requirements necessary to eventually complete this journey.
Economics
Like historic colonies that were established on Earth, Europa's economic development would be critical to its continual growth and success. One such economic driver could be its relatively close proximity to
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
, the
asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...
, and the periphery of the
solar system
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
. Earth is, on average, almost 500 million miles from Europa. To alleviate the time and distance required to travel, Europa can serve as a midway colony between Earth and the aforementioned locations. "Intermediary" colonies have historic precedents. For example,
Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislature, legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the sec ...
, was established as a safe harbor for long voyages between Asia and Europe.
Europa is hypothesized to have a large subsurface ocean. Water makes it possible to grow fruits, vegetables, and grains as it is an essential pillar to agriculture.
However, reddish-brown materials whose composition is not yet known, but that experts believe to be salt and sulfur compounds that have been mixed with ice and modified by radiation, litter Europa's surface and could make Europa's surface unsuitable for agriculture. Manure and other fertilizers could be an inter-Europa commodity as it will most likely be essential to delivering the nutrients required for farming and industrial agriculture.
Ethical considerations
The true breadth of ethical consequences that come from the colonization of Europa cannot be known until such a colony is fully established. The United Nations
Outer Space Treaty
russian: link=yes, Договор о космосе es, link=yes, Tratado sobre el espacio ultraterrestre
, long_name = Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moo ...
, ratified in 1967, states that no country may take claim to space or celestial bodies like Europa. It is unclear exactly how ownership over Europa colonial lands would be distributed and whether colonists will have
private land ownership
In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...
once a colony is established. More human centered ethical questions may arise from how
extended periods in outer space will impact colonists. Migration on Earth is a well established phenomenon but it carries its own set of psychological impacts like a decrease in mental well-being due to having to adjust to a new environment, set of norms, distress, and separation from family. NASA scientists predict that an altered state of gravity and radiation coupled with isolation and confinement have the potential to pose real psychological hardships on a person. Such negative impacts on colonists will increase as they spend more time in space. Ethical arguments can be made as to why any entity should finance the colonization of Europa when the program has a high risk of failure and could be detrimental to the colonists' health and well-being.
The environment within a Europa colony will inevitably be altered. Colonists will most likely want to terraform the moon to make its surface and climate better suited for their colony. Arguments can be made as to what right humans have, as extraterrestrial visitors, to alter the natural environment. Parallels can also be found between the
negative impacts that unmonitored resource exploitation has had on Earth and the potential of such a catastrophe on Europa.
If life is found to exist on Europa, the difference in the environments of Earth and Europa would likely mean terraforming would have adverse effects on the natural inhabitants of the moon. Ethical considerations regarding how to preserve natural life, whether it be primitive or in the form of
microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
s may be necessary.
History
Exploration and research
Discovery
Galileo Galilei first
discovered Europa along with four of Jupiter's other satellites on 7 January 1610. However, he only realized they were moons, rather than stars, on 15 January of that year.
Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 missions
Pioneer 10
''Pioneer 10'' (originally designated Pioneer F) is an American space probe, launched in 1972 and weighing , that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. Thereafter, ''Pioneer 10'' became the first of five artificial objects to ach ...
and
Pioneer 11
''Pioneer 11'' (also known as ''Pioneer G'') is a robotic space probe launched by NASA on April 5, 1973, to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, solar winds, and cosmic rays. It was the first probe to encounter ...
were flyby missions to Jupiter in 1972 and 1973 respectively.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were NASA space probes launched in 1977. During a flyby mission in 1979, the Voyager probes took relatively precise photographs of the moon's surface.
Europa Clipper mission
Europa Clipper
Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is an interplanetary mission in development by NASA comprising an orbiter. Planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Europ ...
is a NASA mission planned for launch in 2024.
After it is launched, the spacecraft will study Europa on flybys as it orbits Jupiter. The mission's goal is to determine whether there is a liquid water ocean submerged under Europa's icy surface. Furthermore, NASA hopes to determine whether that ocean provides suitable conditions for life.
In fiction
* Europa plays a role in the book and film of
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.
He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...
's ''
2010: Odyssey Two'' and its sequels. Highly advanced aliens aiding the development of life take an interest in the primitive life forms under Europa's ice. They transform Jupiter into a star to kick-start their evolution, and forbid humans from landing on or colonizing Europa. In ''
2061: Odyssey Three'', Europa has become a tropical ocean world.
* In
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre.
Sterling's first ...
's novel ''
Schismatrix
''Schismatrix'' ()''Schismatrix Plus'', 1995, page viii. is a science fiction novel by Bruce Sterling, originally published in 1985. The story was Sterling's only novel-length treatment of the Shaper/Mechanist universe. Five short stories prece ...
'', Europa is inhabited by
genetically engineered
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...
posthuman
Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. The concept aims at addressing a variety of ...
s.
*
Alastair Reynolds
Alastair Preston Reynolds (born 13 March 1966) is a Welsh science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle University, where he s ...
's short story ''
A Spy in Europa'' depicts an advanced human society called the
Demarchists, who are based in colonies on Europa that mainly cling to the underside of the ice crust at the surface of the ocean. A race of genetically altered humans adapted to live in the subsurface ocean is also created, some of whom later appear in Reynolds's 2006 short story "Grafenwalder's Bestiary."
* Europa is one of multiple satellites that are colonized in the Japanese animation ''
Cowboy Bebop'', along with Io, Ganymede, Callisto, and Titan.
* In ''
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare'', Europa houses a military installation used as a black site for weapons development.
* In ''
Warframe
''Warframe'' is a free-to-play action role-playing third-person shooter multiplayer online game developed and published by Digital Extremes. First released for Windows personal computers in March 2013, it was later ported to PlayStation 4 in No ...
'', Europa is under the alignment of the Corpus faction. It is depicted as an ice-covered planetoid and mining efforts by the Corpus are aided with machines and "heat generators" in open areas. It is also home to several black sites for creation of prototype weapon systems like the Raptors and other advanced robotic proxies.
*In the video game ''
Barotrauma
Barotrauma is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between a gas space inside, or contact with, the body and the surrounding gas or liquid. The initial damage is usually due to over-stretching the tissues in tensio ...
'', Europa has many research centers and colonies, as well as monsters, parasites, and other native lifeforms, in its subsurface ocean.
* In the video game ''
Destiny 2
''Destiny 2'' is a free-to-play Online game, online-only multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie. It was originally released as a pay to play game in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. It became free-to-play, ...
'', Europa is shown to have been colonized by the fictional Clovis Bray corporation.
* Alexandra Monir's novels "The Final Six" and "The Life Below" describe six teens' journey to colonize Europa after Earth's storms become too devastating for mankind to survive.
See also
*
Europa (moon)
Europa , or Jupiter II, is the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, and the sixth-closest to the planet of all the 80 known moons of Jupiter. It is also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System. Europa was discovered in 16 ...
*
Europa Clipper
Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is an interplanetary mission in development by NASA comprising an orbiter. Planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Europ ...
*
Europa in fiction
*
Space travel using constant acceleration
Space travel under constant acceleration is a hypothetical method of space travel that involves the use of a propulsion system that generates a constant acceleration rather than the short, impulsive thrusts produced by traditional chemical rock ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colonization of Europa
*Europa
Europa (moon)