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Ocean on Jupiter’s Moon Europa May Have Supported Life

木星卫星本卫二上的海洋有可能支持生命

New research from the United States space agency, NASA, suggests that the ocean under the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa may have been able to support life.

美国国家航空航天局（简称NASA）的最新研究表明，木星卫星木卫二表面下的海洋有可能支持生命。

Researchers found that the ocean could have been formed when some mineralsbroke downand released water.

研究人员发现，这一海洋可能是在一些矿物分解并释放出水时形成的。

Europa is a little smaller than Earth's moon, but still one of the largest moons in our solar system. Observations of Europa by NASA spacecraft have shown that an ocean exists there beneath a thick layer of ice. Scientists estimate Europa's ocean to be 65 to 160 kilometers deep. It may contain twice the water of Earth's oceans.

木卫二略小于地球的卫星，但仍是太阳系中最大的卫星之一。NASA宇宙飞船对木卫二的观测表明，其厚厚的冰层下存在一片海洋。科学家估计，木卫二的海洋可能有65-160公里深。其中的水能是地球海洋的两倍。

The new findings came from ocean models of Europa created by NASA. The results were reported in a study presented at a recent conference of Goldschmidt, a geoscience research organization.

这一最新发现来自NASA创建的木卫二海洋模型。研究结果在地球科学研究组织戈尔德施密特近期举行的会议上发表。

Mohit Melwani Daswani is a planetary scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. He led the study.

莫希特·梅尔瓦尼·达斯瓦尼是位于加州的NASA喷气推进实验室的行星科学家。他领导了这项研究。

Daswani told the Reuters news agency his team believes Europa's ocean "may have been habitable early when it formed." This is because the research suggests the water had a low level of acid and contained carbon dioxide.

达斯瓦尼对路透社表示，他的小组认为，木卫二上的海洋“可能在形成之初就适宜居住”。这是因为研究表明，水的酸性物质含量很低，而且含有二氧化碳。

Daswani said the study suggests it may have been possible for some microorganisms to use carbon dioxide in the ocean for energy to survive. Some bacteria on Earth receive life-giving energy from carbon dioxide.

达斯瓦尼表示，这项研究表明，一些微生物有可能将海洋中的二氧化碳用作生存下去的能量。地球上的一些细菌从二氧化碳中获得赋予生命的能量。

"The availability of liquid water is the first step to habitability," Daswani said. "In addition, chemical exchange between the ocean and the rocky interior may have been significant in the past, so potential life may have been able to use chemical energy to survive," he added.

达斯瓦尼说：“液态水的供应是实现可居住性的第一步。”他补充说，“此外，海洋和岩石内部的化学交换在以前可能很重要，因此潜在的生命也许能利用化学能量生存。”

In other words, Daswani said, the makeup of Europa's ocean may havebeenverysimilar tooceans on Earth. "We believe that this ocean could be quite habitable for life."

达斯瓦尼表示，换句话说，木卫二海洋的构成可能与地球海洋的构成非常相似。“我们认为这片海洋可能相当适合生命居住。”

The new study examined whether Europa was habitable in the past, but did not look at its present ability to support life. Daswani said that is a question researchers are now exploring.

这项新研究考察了木卫二以前是否适宜居住，但并未研究其目前支持生命的能力。达斯瓦尼说，这是研究人员目前正在探索的问题。

He added, however, just because a planet or moon is believed to be habitable does not mean that life is actually present. "Just that the conditions could allow for the survival of some extremely hardy forms of life that we know of on Earth," he noted.

然而，他补充说，行星或卫星被认为适宜居住并不意味着生命真的存在。他指出，“只是这些条件可能允许我们知道的地球上一些极其顽强的生命体存活。”

The researchers believe Europa offers one of the best chances of finding life in our solar system. In the future, however, they say they willseek tocreate models to study other moons. These could include Europa's neighbor, Ganymede — the largest moon in our solar system — and Saturn's moon, Titan.

研究人员认为木卫二提供了在太阳系寻找生命的绝佳机会之一。然而，他们表示，未来他们将寻求建立模型来研究其他卫星。这可能包括木卫二的邻居、太阳系中最大的卫星木卫三以及土星的卫星土卫六。

I'm Bryan Lynn.

布莱恩·林恩报道。