Ganymede, an ocean of life?

Ganymede, an ocean of life?

Ganymede: Ĕ = 1 - (details), please see article

"Prospective study of fashion formulation of search for life in the cosmos" on this blog.

According to the detailed definitions of the factors of the Emergence of life: an inventory of vital conditions quoted on this blog, it appears that Ĕ = 1, and based on this calculation by the formulation Ĕ as the available observations, Forms of Life populate the depths of Ganymede.

Ganymede, with a diameter of 5,268 kilometers, is the largest natural satellite of Jupiter, noted Jupiter III Ganymede and also the largest of all our Solar System. View from the Galileo probe. Public domain. © NASA / JPL / DLR

The Galileo probe has 6 times during the period 1995-2000 and at various altitudes, from 260 to 3 100 km, overfly the satellite of Jupiter Ganymede while collecting every time a lot of data. The main results are: the presence of a magnetic field creating a small Van Allen belt due to a probable metallic core; rugged terrain, craters and outcrops of groundwater with tectonic activity caused by tidal warming under the combined action of internal forces and Jupiter; the presence of a salty ocean containing more water than all the oceans of the Earth combined and having the depth of the earth's oceans under a thick layer of surface ice that seems to be omnipresent there.

Also, many compounds have been detected such as carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and possibly cyanogen (C2N2) which polymerizes under the action of ultraviolet rays, burns in giving nitrogen and, depending on the quantity of oxygen, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, finally its hydration is catalyzed by acids and provides various products, sulfuric acid and various organic compounds. The results of Galileo also showed traces of magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) and possibly sodium sulphate (Na2SO4). There are therefore CHON chemical elements very varied, energy and water. It is already a very decisive set to allow the emergence of Life.

Moreover, the formidable tidal forces like plasma fluxes resulting from the gravitational action of the neighboring giant Jupiter form an enormous energy supply, and a geophysical argument favorable to the hypothesis of the presence of life in the form of various creatures and maybe not so strange on this moon as others around some solar planets and subsequently in other stellar and exolune systems ...

Artist's view of seabed on deep-sea moons like Ganymede or Enceladus.

Ganymede is orbiting an average of 1,070,400 kilometers from Jupiter and a distance from the Earth of 628.3 million kilometers.

Artist's view of Ganymede and Jupiter © NASA / ESA http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/15-033i1.jpg

Traces of oxygen: O2, in various states.

According to a part of the scientific community, the study of this moon is likely to allow to discover a form of life or interesting phylums. Since 1995, the announcements and the proofs of the potential presence of Life accumulate on Ganymede as on Encelade, (this one since 2005) (see on this blog the article: Enceladus, The Life?)

From an exobiological point of view, essential and varied ion exchanges are therefore involved between the rock and the liquid water present in conformity with the existence of possible forms of life according to our knowledge. It is still unclear whether there is indeed all the necessary components but to date, many are available and seem to be gathered so that life exists on Ganymede.

All terrain on Ganymede has traces of craters of revealing impacts giving an age of 4 billion years for the dark regions, similar to that of the highlands of the Moon, and younger for the clear regions, but without power as much determine how much. It is possible that Ganymede was subjected like the Moon to a period of particularly intense bombardment 3.5 to 4 billion years ago without counting the effects of a pounding of the surface even more intense during the Late Heavy Bombardment (According to the Nice Model, which is a scenario of formation of the Solar System, it is a theoretical period in the history of the solar system approximately 4.1 to 3.9 billion years ago, during which Would have caused meteoric or cometary impacts on the terrestrial planets very important)(And evidence was also found for the conditions of type Late Heavy Bombardment around the star Eta Corvi) ...

Production of observed cometary molecules by direct evaporation from the nucleus or by evaporation of parent molecules followed by their interactions with solar radiation.  

Comets as meteorites have a fundamental role in the quest for life in space.

Meteorite bombardment, which is very ancient throughout the solar system, is also an abundant source of complementary carbon in any medium (eg Antarctic Micrometorites on Earth) and thus with the carbon intake of these, the theory of the panspermia is not far ... The meteoric bombardment is also source of amino acids, and thus more than 70 amino acids of which 8 protein / 20 are known of extra terrestrial origin on earth since found in numerous meteorites, Example: the Meteorite of Murchison (please see on this blog, the article: Enceladus, The Life?)

Ganymede also has active polar caps, probably composed of water ice. All the ingredients seem to add up so that a life may have appeared and maintained itself as many exobiologists speculate!

Ganymede diagram.svg, CC BY 3.0, NASA/JPL/DLR

The balance giving Ĕ = 1 for Ganymede is fairly complete to date, (please see the article: Prospective study of mode of formulation of research of life in the cosmos).

USGS geologists have assembled images from the Voyager missions with those from the Galileo spacecraft to produce a high-definition map. Indeed, the two Voyager probes overflew the Jovian system and also Ganymede in 1979, as for the Galileo probe, it allowed to study the Jovian system between 1995 and 2003.

The base of the resulting Ganymede map, below, uses the best image quality and moderate resolution coverage provided by Galileo SSI (Solid State Imaging instrument) and Voyager 1 and 2.

Image processing was performed by the USGS using the integrated system for imaging and spectrometer systems (ISIS). The image data was selected based on the overall image quality, reasonable input resolution (from 20 km / pixel for filling space to about 400 meters / pixel) and the availability of pictures Moderate and solar angles for topography.

The projections of the map are based on a sphere with a radius of 2632,345 kilometers. (Publication 11 February 2014 -  URL: https://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3237/)

Mapping of Ganymede - CC BY 3.0, NASA / JPL / DLR

For its part, the European Space Agency (ESA) will send a dedicated probe to study the moons of Jupiter in 2022, the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JIME) which will arrive on site in 2030. This mission will mainly collect data on Ganymede, Europe and Callisto, with the aim of avowing the search for clues that could demonstrate whether or not there are extraterrestrial organisms that could prosper in these respective milieus. The probe is expected to reach Ganymede's orbit around 2033. The global space agencies are not betting on Enceladus to date and indeed no mission to its destination is on the agenda except for projects without precise calendars within NASA.

Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer or spaceship Prometheus 1 - PD-USGov-NASA

This leaves little doubt that this moon could very well according to some researchers have microbial organisms, and even small animals.

Imagine the shift.

Like obtaining a spectacular image like the one below by a probe in deep immersion on Ganymede ...

Simulated artist's view of a shooting of life form in the depths of Ganymede

Many research is underway on the data available on Ganymede because this Jovian moon that has many chances to conceal the life according to Ĕ = 1, has indeed:

•     Large size;
•     Internal energy and temperature of various gradients allowing water (H2O) to be under life-compatible conditions with a vast ocean of underground seawater and magnetic elements;
•     A gentle atmosphere, but with a non-negligible atmospheric pressure and a magnetosphere with a Van Halen-type belt and a certain level of atmospheric ionization (detection of auroras generated by the combined magnetic fields of Ganymede and Jupiter);
•     Traces of Oxygen (O2) in various forms;
•     A range of important CHON-SP basic chemical elements and metallic elements with an active deep geological layer;
•     An uneven and varied toponymy on its surface revealing interesting tectonics;
•     It had an important radioactivity at the time of original formation which disappeared;
•     An age of more than 4 billion years ....

 So, Ganymede, an ocean of life?

DOT.