NASA wants to send instruments to distant moons like Europa and Enceladus to search for life. But getting vital data back to Earth over limited bandwidth will take some impressive compression software.
Europa
Dynamics of Ocean Worlds Likely Controlled by Their Rotation
New simulations suggest that subsurface oceans on icy moons with small natural Rossby numbers may be dominated by rotational effects.
Lipids from Europa’s Ocean Could Be Detectable on the Surface
A super salty spring in the Canadian Arctic provides insights key to detecting life on a distant ocean world.
New Energetic Neutral Atom Emissions from Jupiter, Io, and Europa
The first Jovian off-equator Energetic Neutral Atom viewings reveal distinct emissions from Jupiter and the orbits of Io and Europa: Energetic particle injections surprisingly occur inside Io’s orbit.
Two Moons and a Magnetosphere
Decades of research have illuminated how Io and Europa shape—and are shaped by—Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere.
Mmm, Salt—Europa’s Hidden Ocean May Contain the Table Variety
Hubble Space Telescope observations suggest that sodium chloride exists in young, geologically active regions on Europa, likely fed by upwelling from the moon’s subsurface ocean.
Huge Blades of Ice May Partially Cover Jupiter’s Moon Europa
Conditions are right for “penitentes” up to 15 meters high to form on the Jovian moon, new research shows. The spires might prevent a lander from exploring Europa’s equatorial region.
How Hot Is Europa? Now There’s a Map for That
The new global map of Europa’s surface heat also highlighted one spot on the moon that is inexplicably cold.