On Monday (March 4), scientists announced they've managed to measure how much molecular oxygen — the type of oxygen we breathe on Earth — likely exists around Jupiter's moon Europa. Although researchers have made estimates of the icy moon's oxygen content in the past, the team says this is the first time we've made a direct measurement of it.
To put it briefly, the result fell short of some quite high previous estimates. Could this mean Europa, believed to harbor a huge ocean of salty water beneath its icy shell, is less friendly than we'd hoped to the emergence of life? Or, at least, to life as we know it? Well, not necessarily, but the discussion is certainly an interesting one that invites further investigation.
