The Solar System's Icy Secret Keeper
Scientists used archival data to search for signs of an ocean beneath Europa, a moon of Jupiter.
In 2003, a NASA spacecraft plunged into the swirling atmosphere of Jupiter and vaporized. Galileo, named for the astronomer who discovered the planet’s biggest moons, had spent more nearly eight years in orbit, collecting data about the Jovian environment and relaying it back to Earth.
“We learned mind-boggling things,” said Claudia Alexander, the mission’s project manager, after the probe sent its final transmissions home.
Fifteen years later, we’re still learning from the spacecraft.
Astronomers recently reanalyzed some data from the Galileo mission and found evidence of a plume on Europa, an icy moon
