Using recent data from NASA’s Juno orbiter, scientists have uncovered new details on the thickness and structure of Europa’s surface ice shell, which encases the Jovian moon’s subsurface ocean. For planetary scientists and astrobiologists, Europa’s ocean makes the moon one of the most likely places for life to exist outside of Earth.
Since entering orbit around Jupiter in July 2016, Juno has conducted extensive studies into Europa and Jupiter’s two other icy moons: Callisto and Ganymede. Juno’s new Europa measurements used the orbiter’s Microwave Radiometer instrument, and are the first to discriminate between the thick and thin ice models that scientists have theorized for the thickness of Europa’s ice shell.