New research sheds light on icy ocean worlds like Jupiter’s Europa, focusing on a novel thermodynamic concept called the “cenotectic.”
This concept helps determine the conditions under which liquid water can remain stable in extreme environments, offering insights into their habitability and enhancing the data from space missions like NASA’s Europa Clipper. The research is a collaborative effort that bridges cryobiology and planetary science, aiming to decode the mysteries of potentially life-supporting ocean worlds across our solar system.
Groundbreaking Research for Icy Worlds
As NASA’s Europa Clipper begins its historic mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, Dr. Matt Powell-Palm, a professor in Texas A&M University’s J. Mike Walker ‘66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, has revealed groundbreaking research that could reshape our understanding of icy ocean worlds across the solar system.
Published in Nature Communications and co-authored with planetary scientist Dr. Baptiste Journaux from the University of Washington, the study introduces a new thermodynamic concept called the “cenotectic.” This concept explores the stability of liquids under extreme conditions, providing essential insights into the potential habitability of icy moons like Europa.
Revolutionizing the Search for Habitability
The exploration of icy ocean worlds represents a new frontier in planetary science, focusing on understanding the potential for these environments to support life. Powell-Palm’s research addresses a fundamental question in this field: under what conditions can liquid water remain stable on these distant, frozen bodies? By defining and measuring the cenotectic, the absolute lowest temperature at which a liquid remains stable under varying pressures and concentrations, the team provides a critical framework for interpreting data from planetary exploration efforts.
This study combines Powell-Palm’s expertise in cryobiology – specifically the low-temperature thermodynamics of water – initially focused on medical applications like organ preservation for transplantation, with Journaux’s expertise in planetary science and high-pressure water-ice systems. Together, they developed a framework that bridges disciplines to tackle one of the most fascinating challenges in planetary science.
“With the launch of NASA Europa Clipper, the largest planetary exploration mission ever launched, we are entering a multi-decade era of exploration of cold and icy ocean worlds. Measurements from this and other missions will tell us how deep the ocean is and its composition,” said Journaux. “Laboratory measurements of liquid stability, and notably the lowest temperature possible (the newly-defined cenotectic), combined with mission results, will allow us to fully constrain how habitable the cold and deep oceans of our solar system are, and also what their final fate will be when the moons or planets have cooled down entirely.”
A Texas A&M Legacy of Innovation in Space Science
The research was conducted at Texas A&M and led by mechanical engineering graduate student Arian Zarriz. The work reflects Texas A&M’s deep expertise in water-ice systems and tradition of excellence in space research, which spans multiple disciplines. With the recent groundbreaking of the Texas A&M Space Institute, the university is poised to play an even larger role in space exploration, providing intellectual leadership for missions pushing the boundaries of human knowledge.
“The study of icy worlds is a particular priority for both NASA and the European Space Agency, as evidenced by the flurry of recent and upcoming spacecraft launches,” said Powell-Palm. “We hope that Texas A&M will help to provide intellectual leadership in this space.”
The Future of Space Exploration and Research
As planetary exploration missions, such as those targeting icy moons, continue to expand our understanding of the solar system, researchers at Texas A&M and beyond prepare to analyze the wealth of data they will provide. By combining experimental studies like those conducted by Powell-Palm and Journaux with the findings from these missions, scientists aim to unlock the secrets of cold, ocean-bearing worlds and evaluate their potential to harbor life.
Reference: “On the equilibrium limit of liquid stability in pressurized aqueous systems” by Arian Zarriz, Baptiste Journaux and Matthew J. Powell-Palm, 18 December 2024, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54625-z
Funding: U.S. National Science Foundation, NASA Astrobiology Institute, NASA Precursor Science Investigations for Europa, NSF Engineering Research Center for Advanced Technologies for Preservation of Biological Systems
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19 Comments
People sure are getting desperate when it comes to the fake, science fiction idea of extraterrestrial life and trying to justify spending billions of dollars searching for it.
The fake, science fiction idea of extraterrestrial life, eh? I guess that’s opposite the reality-based notion that life could only possibly exist on Earth.
It’s nice that you have such an abundance of evidence to support this belief that you can go around calling people desperate.
Also, have a look at global GDP and tell us again how the billions of dollars used in the search of life in the universe is unjustifiable.
Yes, extraterrestrial is EGGaxtly what we don’t want to encounter. One little spec is likely to hold a biology which will either love disassembling DNA on a world-wide basis – or be unnoticed by stupid humans because it got ate. However, the large looming probability they would be utterly incompatible and quickly lead to biological conflagration – a molecular ‘War of the Worlds,’ in big technicolor – is high.
Thankfully any technologically developed aliens would know this and never, ever come near. As will have to be our policy for future space endeavors. As soon as life chains get inculcated into the Martian Permafrost and turn it into the space-craft and boot-tread dissolving Stinky Green Muck planet, destroying the careers and reputations of the dummies who take us there, we’ll know to arbitrate a serious set of protocols to avoid such.
I trust that the Russians haven’r got Europa first and have not installed a nuclear submarine there to await the evil Yankees and their Europa c Clipper!.Or may the PR China folk have got there………..AAAAGH! firstto
Literally zero evidence to support this theory. That is but one (extreme) possibility out of countless others.
It’s fine to raise the concern, but to posit it as a high probabilty makes you look foolish.
Actually, it’s likely that life has already spread from other planets to Earth and Earth to other planets. It’s unlikely that life evolved independently on Earth. The molecules of life (amino acids) are abundant in the universe. We see them everywhere we look. Life appeared on Earth almost as soon as the environment allowed it. So either it evolved here really fast or it was delivered here. We know that impacts on Mars have transferred martian rocks to Earth and vice-versa. The impact that killed the dinosaurs could have sent material from Earth all the way to Jupiter! So if life evolved on Earth (unlikely) then we’ve already spread it all over the solar system.
Bacterial spores could remain trapped, frozen in a rock crossing the intergalactic expanse, land on another planet and start life there.
Which is all to say, the thing you fear has already happened, multiple times and we’re still here.
I agree with everything apart from ” It’s unlikely that life evolved independently on Earth.” We know from phylogenies that, yes, life evolved early here ~ 4.3 billion years ago and that the split between biology and geology happened in deep ocean hydrothermal vents. Both speed and locale promotes a local split.
The latest phylogenies that reach into the pre-LUCA evolution of genetic code also suggests a local lineage. The early flat fitness landscape promoted mutational quasispecies instead of later genomic species. “Perhaps the biggest mystery is how sequences such as the common ancestor of L/I/V-tRNA synthetase, which were translated via alternative or incomplete genetic codes, ended up being recoded for translation by the direct ancestor of the canonical genetic code. Harmonization of genetic codes facilitated innovation sharing via HGT, making it advantageous to use the most common code, driving code convergence (85, 86). Only once a common code was established did HGT drop to levels such that a species tree became apparent, i.e., the LUCA coalescence point corresponds to convergence on a code (85). Our identification of pre-LUCA sequences provides a rare source of data about early, alternative codes.” S. Wehbi, A. Wheeler, B. Morel, N. Manepalli, B.Q. Minh, D.S. Lauretta, J. Masel, Order of amino acid recruitment into the genetic code resolved by last universal common ancestor’s protein domains, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
121 (52) e2410311121,
Mars and Earth has been exchanging possibly life bearing material for billions of years. But we don’t expect any problem, since Earth life is adapted to Earth.
The simplest idea for exploring icy worlds such as Europa has been the hardest idea for planners to understand. It will never be necessary to send a probe carrying an atomic energy source, and have it melt its way down through the outer layer of ice. Exploring the water under a thick layer of ice is easy. Simply park a probe in orbit, and have it wait for a naturally occurring, frequent, rupture of the ice due to energy provided by orbital gravitational tidal dynamics. Before the newly ruptured ice cover freezes shut, drop a smaller probe to swim down under the ice. Allow the smaller probe to relay messages up through the larger probe. Keep that larger probe in orbit. We should have done this decades ago, instead of trudging around in a bone dry desert on Mars during all this time. We would have already had pictures of extraterrestrial fish.
The potential to harbor life is not the problem. It’s how can life ever get there, or evolve there, stay there. This kind of esoteric research is too expensive to make it worth going forward.
The funding agents, often private businesses, do not find it too expensive. The research has applications for medical analysis, say.
We should concentrate advancing human civilization to the point every human on the plant is healthy well fed and productive. That also include no more pollution and a sustainable clean energy source. Then perhaps we can explore other worlds.
Or do both at the same time? They are not mutually exclusive concepts.
Confining scientific experimentation to Earth is like trying to write all software in the same programming language. You’re severely limiting yourself and your potential. Investments made in astrophysics, astrobiology, etc are drops in the bucket compared to the returns.
You forgot, or perhaps meant to imply “happy & free”. Neither of those are givens despite being well fed and healthy. Further, both these and the concepts you mention are more subjective than not so when speaking about advancing civilization, it is imperative to include the notion of individual agency at all levels.
I do not know, why the urge to find life outside Planet Earth, it could be the death of US.
Sounds like the arguments made by folks throughout history who didn’t want anyone to venture across the sea, across the forest, or even outside their village. Fear of the unknown leads to stagnation. Adventure and curiosity is what has advanced humanity for millenia.
The irony is that US is founded by exploration and colonization, the urge to find out and to exploit.
” [other life] could be the death of US…” — True – it could. But so can GRBs, a big A** space rock, a super volcano, or any number of other species-ending calamities. So the takeaway should not be “stop exploring” but rather, go forth and explore but do so with great care.