MSN: Europa's icy surface is changing fast, hinting at ocean below, says new NASA-backed study A new study combining data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and laboratory experiments led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) suggests that the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa is ... Europa's icy surface is changing fast, hinting at ocean below, says new NASA-backed study The debate could reopen in 2030 when NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft gets the closest view of the icy moon’s surface. A series of experiments support spectral data recently collected by the James Webb Space Telescope that found evidence that the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa is constantly changing.

Understanding the Context

Europa's ... It could be easier than we thought to find evidence of life on the icy surfaces of moons like Europa and Enceladus. Far from the Sun, in the outer Solar System, a small handful of icy moons orbiting ... Europa (/ jʊˈroʊpə / ⓘ) is the smallest and least massive of Jupiter 's four Galilean moons.

Key Insights

It is observable from Earth with common binoculars and is a planetary-mass moon, slightly smaller and less massive than Earth's Moon. Europa is an icy moon, and, of the three icy Galilean moons, the closest orbiting Jupiter. As a result, it exhibits a relatively young surface shaped by tidal ... See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search.

Final Thoughts

The icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa appears to be constantly ... A new finding of ammonia on the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa could have important implications for the search for extraterrestrial life. Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa appears to have ...