So far I have commented on the vastness of our universe and have toned down the survey for life to just our solar system. I have looked at the only two planets that fall within or that are close to the habitable zone for G type stars. Earth, Mars and maybe Venus are part of this zone and that is what has led me to take a closer look at these planets. However, these are not the only bodies in our solar system which should be taken into consideration for life. Jupiter is a planet that has four large moons. Europa especially contains a necessity for life. Under the frozen surface of Europa there is thought to be liquid water that has peaked astronomers interest. There are still questions about how think the layer of ice is. There are plans to use radar to determine this. However, as we know presently all life forms need water to survive and thus this large ocean may be a place where life could evolve. Also when one looks back in our own history here are many believers that life started in the oceans of Earth and then eventually moved onto the land. The main debate as mentioned above is the thickness of the ice. This is because the thickness is an indirect measure of tidal heating. Tidal heating is crucial for determining whether there is volcanism on the sea floor. I feel that this is one of the few possibilities that life could exist within our solar system but there are other factors that need to be considered. For instance if the ice is thick then the sunlight will not be able to penetrate through the layer of ice. If this happened then there would be no chance of organism that uses photosynthesis. Also even if there are macroscopic life forms that develop there may not be larger life forms or intelligent life. Even though there may not be intelligent life scientists are very interested in Europa.
Some information obtained from : http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/europa/thickice/
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