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Space

Jupiter’s icy moon Europa has a hidden ‘conveyer belt’ of heat

By John Wenz

4 December 2017

New Scientist Default Image

Alien microbes could be pushed around by convection currents underneath Europa’s icy crust

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

From surface to seafloor, there’s a lot going on on Europa. New evidence points to a great deal of activity just below the ice shell of this ocean world.

Europa is the second innermost of Jupiter’s massive Galilean moons and believed to be one of the most promising places to search for alien microbes.

For decades, we’ve spotted signs of a massive ocean beneath its cracked crust. Some of this water makes its way to…

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