NASA’s Galileo Mission Points to Ammonia at Europa, Recent Study Shows

In this composite image, red pixels mark locations on Europa’s surface where ammonia-bearing compounds were detected; purple indicates no such detection. Captured by NASA’s Galileo mission in 1997, the data is overlaid on a black-and-white mosaic that zooms in on a portion of the moon’s surface. NASA/JPL-Caltech

New analysis of decades-old data has turned up a significant result: the first discovery of ammonia-bearing compounds on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Ammonia is a nitrogen-bearing molecule, and nitrogen — like carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen — is key to life as we know it. As the first such detection at Europa, the finding … Continue reading NASA’s Galileo Mission Points to Ammonia at Europa, Recent Study Shows