SpaceViews Article: Antarctic Lake May Help Scientists Understand Europa
Antarctic Lake May Help Scientists Understand Europa
Published: 1999 August 5
5:58 am ET (0958 UT)
Continued study of a large lake buried beneath the ice of Antarctica may help scientists better understand the ice-covered oceans which are believed to exist on the Jovian moon Europa and which may harbor life, scientists said.
In a report issued this week by the National Science Foundation, the panel of scientists concluded that more comprehensive study of Lake Vostok in Antarctica, including drilling into the lake itself to look for evidence of life, could help scientists understand what kind of life might exist in Europa's oceans.
The lake, about the size of Lake Ontario, the smallest of the five Great Lakes in North America, is covered by 4 km (2.4 mi.) of ice. It was discovered in the 1970s by radio-echo soundings and later confirmed by radar mapping from spacecraft. The true nature and scale of the lake, however, has only become clear within the last few years.
Scientists have speculated that microbes unlike those found anywhere else in the world might exist in the secure isolation of Lake Vostok, relying on geothermal energy thought to keep the lake from freezing. Such conditions would be similar to those on Europa, where oceans of liquid water hidden under kilometers of ice could support primitive life. Callisto, another of Jupiter's large moons, may also have liquid water oceans under its icy surface.
An international team of scientists recently drilled into the ice above Lake Vostok to within about 120 meters (400 feet) of the lake. They stopped above the lake to avoid contaminating the lake with outside life. The NSF report, however, advocated a multi-year continuation of this work, including using new techniques to gather samples from the lake without contaminating it.
Those techniques could be used on future missions to Europa to drill into its ice and even deploy submersibles into the moon's subsurface oceans, in an effort to look for life.
"It is clear that explorations of Lake Vostok and Europa/Callisto have much in common, including the scientific excitement of exploring a new place," the report noted.
ยทยทยท
A radar map of Antarctica highlighting the location of Lake Vostok
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(NSF)*
** Related Stories:**
Complex Europan Life Unlikely -- 1999 June 7
Europa Fault Latest Evidence for Underground Ocean -- 1998 December 10
Limited Energy for Mars and Europa Life, Scientists Report -- 1998 August 26
** Related Sites:**
NSF press release
NSF report on Lake Vostok
Europa Orbiter
Cornell University "Odysseus" Europa lander
"Icepick" Europa Ocean Explorer site
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