Europa:
Researchers have said that there might be an abundance of water pockets beneath formations called double ridges on Jupiter’s moons Europa.
- Europa’s surface is mostly solid water ice.
- Double ridges are the formations which are most common on Europa’s surface and are similar to those seen on Earth’s Greenland ice sheet.
- Europa is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon and its diameter is about one-quarter that of the Earth.
- Europa has a very thin oxygen atmosphere.
- Interestingly, while its diameter is less than the Earth’s, Europa probably contains twice the amount of the water in all of the Earth’s oceans.
- NASA is expected to launch its Europa Clipper in 2024. The module will orbit Jupiter and conduct multiple close flybys to Europa to gather data on the moon’s atmosphere, surface and its interior.
