back to article Jupiter moon Europa spotted spraying WATER into SPAAACCCEE

Boffins have spotted huge plumes of water vapour erupting from the frozen surface of Jupiter's moon Europa, raising the possibility that it could one day be inhabited by humans. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA and ESA scientists were able to spot a number of distinctive geysers near the moon's south pole, something no- …

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  1. Arachnoid
    Coffee/keyboard

    Man the harpoons

    There be Whales.........

    1. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Man the harpoons

      "We're whalers on the moon/We carry a harpoon/But there ain't no whales/So we tell tall tales/And sing our whaling tune."

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Man the harpoons

      Friend, I would not curb thine enthusiasm for the chase, but thou art wrong. Launch not the white ash on the waves until thou seest flukes, else it will go ill for thee.

      Yours in friendship

      Ahab.

  2. kryptonaut
    Coat

    Geezers

    scientists were able to spot a number of distinctive geysers near the moon's south pole, something no-one has ever seen on Europa.

    And by a curious coincidence there are currently also a number of distinguished European geezers near the Earth's south pole: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25354839

    1. Captain DaFt

      Re: Geezers

      Tacky, tacky, tacky... But I laughed anyway. I'm a bad person!

  3. Arachnoid

    And it just so happens

    They have a member of the Wales family in their midst

  4. Steven Raith

    Hmm....

    ALL THESE WORLDS

    ARE YOURS EXCEPT

    EUROPA

    ATTEMPT NO

    LANDING THERE

    USE THEM TOGETHER

    USE THEM IN PEACE

    ALSO

    STOP FIRING SATELLITES AT JUPITER

    THAT'S NOT COOL.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Alien

      Re: Hmm....

      "STOP FIRING SATELLITES AT JUPITER

      THAT'S NOT COOL."

      Oh, come onnnnn!!! Those tiddly little things? They're nowt compared to Shoemaker-Levy 9 and I didn't see any sort of retaliation for that!

    2. Havin_it
      Stop

      Re: Hmm....

      ATTEMPT NO

      LANDING THERE

      OR I'LL PISS ON YOU

      (Can't help being put in mind of the, er, climax of Misfits the other night...)

    3. Steven Roper

      Re: Hmm....

      But that message was sent 3 years ago! Surely it no longer applies in these modern times?

  5. Jonathan Richards 1
    Stop

    Remember to pack the factor 1E6

    > the possibility that [Europa] could one day be inhabited by humans

    Yeah, in a situation where charged particles are zipping around fast enough to ionise water... No. It's not going to be a holiday destination with a radiation environment like that.

    I truly would love to know what's under that ice crust, but I guess a manned mission is out of the question.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Remember to pack the factor 1E6

      Also, the Europans might have something to say on the subject, and it might not be "do you want an upgrade to a room with a king-size geyser?"

    2. Don Jefe
      Alien

      Re: Remember to pack the factor 1E6

      Even if there were no radiation, Humans are ridiculously vulnerable to water when it doesn't do exactly what they want it to do. As natural features gone wrong go, water is the biggest killer of Humans on the planet.

      Water on a foreign planet, plus radiation, plus all the other general challenges of space mean finding water there is exponentially more valuable academically than practically.

      I'm glad it's there and I'm glad we know it is there, that's how science works and all, but saying it increases the potential for manned missions is like saying that finding a spark plug laying in the forest increases your chances of successfully building and racing your own F1 car. The chances are increased mathematically, but the measurable effect is zero.

      1. Wzrd1 Silver badge

        Re: Remember to pack the factor 1E6

        "Water on a foreign planet, plus radiation, plus all the other general challenges of space mean finding water there is exponentially more valuable academically than practically."

        Not really. Can you say, FUEL STOP? :)

        1. Don Jefe

          Re: Remember to pack the factor 1E6

          Fuel stop? On your way to where? If you're coming from Earth and run out of gas by the time you reach Jupiter you're in a world of seriously deep shit. It's a long, long, long way to the next anything from there.

    3. hplasm
      Pirate

      Re: "I truly would love to know what's under that ice crust..."

      Tentacles, that's what. great bolshy big ones, too, I reckon.

      They'll have yer, mark my words...

      Also, Yarr.

  6. phil dude
    Pint

    where's there's water....

    there is life.

    At least on Earth....;-)

    P.

  7. LaeMing
    Joke

    All them Aliens

    invading Earth for our water O_o could have saved themselves a lot of bother.

    (Of course they could have harvested direct from the Oort cloud too).

    ...

    Hmmm, maybe global warming /is/ a myth and the real reason sea levels are rising by a few mm a year is the Aliens have found an alternate source!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Spectrum of that water?

    Could we do a spectroscopic analysis of those geysers and see what else is in there aside from water? If there is any life at all in Europa's ocean, there should be some trace organic molecules in the geyser.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Alien

      Re: Spectrum of that water?

      Don't drink the water on Europa, fish f***ed in it!!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Spectrum of that water?

      My guess is that it's too faint to get any spectroscopic analysis done from Earth let alone the tiny concentrations of the other stuff floating around in the water.

      ESA's JUICE mission which is scheduled for 2022 will perform detailed analyses of the Galilean moons including trying to get thicknesses of their crusts and in Europa's case identifying organic molecules on the surface to see if they are anything other than products of UV light on methane.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Explorer

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Alert! Alert!!

    "Sub-Constable, Gorthak the Slimelord is breaking out of his ice prison on the Europa Supermax moon!!"

    "Great stars of Huytez!! Have the sentry robots failed!??!"

    "Gorthak has enveloped them all sir!! We need reinforcements!!

    "The nearest starmada is 14 dulnops away! Sending priority reroute order now!! Evacuate surviving personnel and meet the relief column in the Oort Cloud at the newly cleared Ison hyperjump landing zone!! What about collateral losses!??!"

    "Doubtless Gorthak will hunger and travel to the nearest inhabited planet, Sol 3. 7 billion inhabitants sir!!"

    "What, Sol 3?? You mean those shaved simians who worship Simon Cowell??! Whew! For a second I thought we had a crisis going...."

  10. Martin Budden Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Hot Friction Deep Within Europa's Nether Regions Makes Her Squirt

  11. Crisp

    We send probes to other bodies all the time.

    Why can't we send one to Europa to basically melt its way through the ice, then fire a submarine probe down there?

    1. mark1978

      Re: We send probes to other bodies all the time.

      That is, in fact, the plan.

    2. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: We send probes to other bodies all the time.

      "Why can't we send one to Europa to basically melt its way through the ice, then fire a submarine probe down there?"

      Research is still ongoing. One big problem is contaminating the samples.

      Wouldn't do to introduce Earth bacteria into the environment there and skew any test results.

      And let's not forget the Russian ice probe for an Antarctic lake, where the samples were heavily contaminated with kerosene from the probe.

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