Low-temperature hydrothermal vents could survive on the dark ocean floors of moons like Jupiter’s Europa for potentially billions of years, new computer simulations have shown, as astrobiologists strive to figure out whether these alien oceans could be habitable.
Hydrothermal vents are both a source of chemical energy and heat, and are one of the possible locations for the origin of life on Earth. Planetary scientists have theorized that hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the oceans beneath the ice on moons of Jupiter like Europa and Ganymede, and the Saturn satellite Enceladus, could help warm those oceans and kickstart the biochemistry of life.
The problem is that modeling of these vents has focused on the extremely high-temperature ones — the “black smokers” powered by volcanic activity. While these super-hot vents can siphon energy from Earth’s hot core, the icy moons do not have hot cores, meaning there’s been a question mark over whether such vents could survive long enough to create the long-term conditions for life.
“Writer Fuel” is a series of cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration.
