A major breakthrough study insinuates that there is alien life on Jupiter moon’s Europa, the stunning discovery was made by Scientists at the Brown University in the US.
The scientists found evidence of subduction, a process where tectonic plates push against each other, which produces the energy that’s required to support life.
The assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University, Brandon Johnson, said: "If indeed, there's life in that ocean, subduction offers a way to supply the nutrients it would need.”
The nutrients supplied include oxidants, electron-stripping substances that are common on Europa's surface and that could help provide an energy source for life, according to the researchers.
The primary drivers for on earth subduction include temperature differences between relatively cool, dense rocky plates and the super-hot surrounding mantle.
The icy surface in Europa means that the heat cannot be the driving force, but the researchers claim that it does not mean subduction cannot happen.
The computer models developed by Mr. Johnson’s team indicate that Europa’s ice plates can indeed dive — if they are saltier than their surroundings. Mr. Johnson said: “Adding salt to an ice slab would be like adding little weights to it because saltly is denser than ice.”
"So, rather than temperature, we show that differences in the salt content of the ice could enable subduction to happen on Europa."
"It's fascinating to think that we might have plate tectonics somewhere other than Earth.
”Thinking from the standpoint of comparative planetology, if we can now study plate tectonics in this very different place, it might be able to help us understand how plate tectonics got started on the Earth."
The news comes as scientists working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland may have found compelling evidence Pluto could support life.
"It's fascinating to think that we might have plate tectonics somewhere other than Earth.
”Thinking from the standpoint of comparative planetology, if we can now study plate tectonics in this very different place, it might be able to help us understand how plate tectonics got started on the Earth."
This comes as the scientists are working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and they might have found adequate evidence indicating that Pluto support life.
