In the 1990s, the biggest excitement for these moons of Jupiter was on a moon called Io. But Europa, just next door, had a much more icy surface layer. And then this magnetic data was suggesting that there was some kind of conducting fluid,. maybe a saline ocean sloshing around sort of inside the moon.
The European Space Agency’s long-awaited Juice Mission is about to blast off for Jupiter’s moons. Its goal: to find out whether the oceans below their icy surfaces could be capable of supporting life. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Stuart Clark about why moons are the new Mars for scientists seeking life, how magnetic fields can help us understand these mysterious lunar oceans, and what Juice might mean for our understanding of life beyond the solar system. Help support our independent journalism at
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