Most people, if asked how many potentially habitable worlds were there in our solar system would say three: Earth, Mars and Venus. Mars was just a tad too small, so its atmosphere and water boiled away into space. Venus has a horrible climate with sulphuric acid clouds. Earth was luckily just right.
Everyone who has watched David Attenborough documentaries knows life originated in the sea, and hot smokers around volcanic vents teem with unusual and vibrant aquatic life. Beneath the polar ice cap strange sea denizens swim in icy waters…
What if this were possible on other planets nearby?
Ice Shell Worlds
Four large moons are known to be water worlds encased in ice: Europa and Ganymede of Jupiter and Titan and Enceladus of Saturn. The latter has active volcanoes. In its 65 kilometre deep salty oceans there are active hot smokers. So life could evolve.
It is a big leap from simple bacterial life to some kind of animal, and another big leap to an animal evolving intelligence. Although we can point to two particular types of mammals here on earth that have high levels of intelligence: primates and sea dwellers: whales and dolphins, they need air to breathe.
However we now know that octopi, as an example of sea dwelling life, are extremely intelligent, and can be taught all sorts of things, even playing the piano.
By extrapolating to other solar systems we can surmise that there are billions of ice-shell worlds around our galaxy, each one potentially holding life.
NASA has a probe, the Europa Clipper, on the way to the Jupiterian moon to investigate. NASA says, “Europa Clipper’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.”
It would be amazing if we found even microbial life in the waters under one of these moons. Let alone an alien civilisation.
