Europa has plate tectonics

[RogueMason]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-300

http://www.iflscience.com/space/earth-plate-tectonics-discovered-europa

Apparently, Europa just got a bit more awesome; next to Earth, it's the only place we know of that is showing signs of plate tectonic activity, just with huge slabs of ice instead of giant hunks of rock. There had been initial observations of areas of new surface ice, but no apparent subduction zones to remove old material had been found up until now. Not only is it an interesting geological phenomenon, but it has 'significant implications for Europa's potential as a habitable world', what with the subsurface ocean beneath the ice.

Pretty cool, huh? It should be a good thing to examine for any potential Europa probes that come to fruition

[Aningaaq]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-300

http://www.iflscience.com/space/earth-plate-tectonics-discovered-europa

Apparently, Europa just got a bit more awesome; next to Earth, it's the only place we know of that is showing signs of plate tectonic activity, just with huge slabs of ice instead of giant hunks of rock. There had been initial observations of areas of new surface ice, but no apparent subduction zones to remove old material had been found up until now. Not only is it an interesting geological phenomenon, but it has 'significant implications for Europa's potential as a habitable world', what with the subsurface ocean beneath the ice.

Pretty cool, huh? It should be a good thing to examine for any potential Europa probes that come to fruition

Glaciotectonics is a fascinating area of research. Another user here said that the proposed Europa Clipper probe may not have the ice-penetrating radar on board when and if it takes off (too heavy compared to the rest of the instruments). This discovery might change their mind or perhaps they can engineer a lighter IPR. I totally agree about it being a good thing to examine in the future. I really hope they put an ice-penetrating radar on a rover if there is a decision to land on Europa.

Thanks for the post!

[RogueMason]

Someone's enthusiastic

It is interesting stuff, though, and maybe at some point in the future, I could be one of those who looks at it in more depth; I'm a geology student aiming to do vulcanology and planetary geology. It would certainly be a neat thing to investigate (for me) alongside other places including Mars and Titan.

As for the probe, I'm sure SLS could probably manage to lift a vehicle with the IPR and get it to Jupiter, though I'm not certain how much mass such an instrument has. I know SLS should be able to put around 130 tonnes into LEO, so I'd guess that translates to around 10 tonnes to Jupiter, but don't quote me on those figures, it's purely off the top of my head with no numbers to work with.

[Dominatus]

This is so cool. Do you know if they have confirmed that the ice is actual frozen water?

[lajoswinkler]

Just imagine the pressures on the top of those oceans. Kilometres and kilometres of ice pushing on it.

Bottom of the ocean should be rich in varieties of clathrates and forms of ices.

I can imagine containing stuff that looks similar to this (Mexico).

[Idobox]

This is so cool. Do you know if they have confirmed that the ice is actual frozen water?

Infrared spectrosopy did that. We even have details about the dirt on the surface.

The one thing we're not sure of is if there is actual liquid water, or just various types of ice. Glaciers on Earth move without having liquid underneath, and the same thing might possibly happen on Europa. That's why we need an IPR, and JUICE should bring one even if Clipper doesn't

[lajoswinkler]

Infrared spectrosopy did that. We even have details about the dirt on the surface.

The one thing we're not sure of is if there is actual liquid water, or just various types of ice. Glaciers on Earth move without having liquid underneath, and the same thing might possibly happen on Europa. That's why we need an IPR, and JUICE should bring one even if Clipper doesn't

There must be liquid at least somewhere, on some depths. At the pressures involved, solid water ice simply won't exist.