Scientists believe Jupiter's moon Europa could now sustain life, reports EurekAlert.
The composition and physical properties of Europa's core, silicate later and the ocean beneath the surface have been analysed by using data from the Galileo mission.
Mohit Melwani Daswani, lead researcher from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said, "We added up this volatiles that is estimated to have been lost from the interior, and found that they are consistent with the current ocean's predicted mass, meaning that they are probably present in the ocean."
Europa is the sixth-largest moon in the solar system and is among Jupiter's 79 moons. However, the origin of the ocean in Europa is unknown.
According to researchers, ocean worlds like Europa are formed as a result of metamorphism.
Metamorphism is the change of minerals or geologic texture in pre-existing rocks, without the protolith melting into liquid magma. The change occurs primarily due to heat, pressure, and the introduction of chemically active fluids.
Scientists also discovered that the ocean's subsurface could have been acidic with carbon dioxide, calcium and sulfate in high concentrations.
Researchers proved that oceans on Europa were similar with oceans on Earth with their chloride rich state. That led them to believe Europa may support life.
