Life in the Extreme
Lipps has made extensive studies of life in extreme environments on Earth, including beneath miles of frozen seas. Such habitats are believed to be similar to what exists on Europa.
Rather than tunneling down through what may be a thick ice covering, scientists should look for sediments that may have rafted up to the surface, Lipps said.
"Life loves ice," he said. "In ices live krill. Ices contain briny channels filled with frozen sea life."
New Horizons will look for deposits on the moon's surface during its Jupiter flyby. Although Galileo was considered a highly successful mission, a problem with its primary communications antenna forced scientists to miss much of the planned high-resolution imagery.
New Horizons has no such problem. As the spacecraft sails past Jupiter on Wednesday, scientists are counting on its infrared imager to flush out details of Europa's surface that Galileo missed.
"We don't know what's in the ocean besides water," said Bill McKinnon, a planetary scientist with Washington University in St. Louis. "I'm hopeful we will get some real clues about the surface of that ocean."
Missions Past
The strongest evidence for a liquid ocean on Europa came from an instrument on Galileo that detects magnetic fields.
The device found an electrically charged layer of some substance as close as 4.7 miles (7.5 kilometers) below the moon's icy crust. The most likely explanation is a liquid water ocean, say planetary scientists.
The ocean is believed to be as deep as 30 miles (50 kilometers).
New Horizons is expected to keep tabs on Jupiter for several months before going into hibernation for the rest of its cruise to Pluto.
