Scientist Rule Out Possibility of Habitable Period for Europa and Enceladus Despite H2O Presence
The general notion that water is a source of life has fueled speculation that a planet with H2O presence may have supported or had the potential to support living organisms. This is the reason why scientists were excited when the moons of Jupiter and Saturn were found to have this integral ingredient for life's existence.
NASA scientists focused on Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's Enceladus which mankind can run to once the sun's heat continues to intensify to unbearable proportions. When this happens in the next six to seven billion years, they hypothesized that the ice covering the surface of both moons can turn into oceans if melted and make them habitable.
But a new study found that Europa and Enceladus — considered as expoplanets — won't become an ocean paradise even if the ice melts. Scientists at Peking University's Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences in China used 3D Community Atmospheric Model to simulate the climatic shifts of icy planets.
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Due to the absence of greenhouse gases in expoplanets, data showed that the sun would have to turn super hot to break both moons out of their "snowball" state. While the ice will melt rapidly, whatever ocean that will be produced will vaporize and transform the moons' surface into a desolate landscape.
This prompted the researchers to rule out a habitable period for Europa and Enceladus. They also noted that Earth has a carbonate-silicate cycle that played a crucial role in producing a stable environment for life. This phenomenon is unique to Earth and doesn't happen in other planetary or lunar bodies.
"We find that the stellar fluxes that are required to overcome a planet's initial snowball state are so large that they lead to significant water loss and preclude a habitable planet," the paper read. "We suggest that some icy planetary bodies may transition directly to a moist or runaway greenhouse without passing through a habitable Earth-like state," it added.
