The geysers reaching into the sky screamed, shouted, clamoured, and spewed out from under the ice shell like a charging procession. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The majestic water dragon is poised to rise, and in the eyes of scientists, the surging momentum is full of chilling terror and unfathomable mystery.

Everyone subconsciously took a few steps back.

Over time, the fountain's momentum also began to show a noticeable attenuation.

"Under the influence of Jupiter's tidal gravity, the water pressure under the ice shell began to drop, and the cracks began to gradually close."

"The fountain lasted for a total of 7.5 hours, and it is estimated that the volume of seawater spewing out of the ground will reach more than 800,000 cubic meters."

"Most of the fountains turned into ice crystals as they fell."

Luckily, Europa's atmosphere is so thin that the ice crystals don't drift away from the wind, and essentially fall back around the fissures of the fountains. By the time the fountain ended, a wide area around the rift had protruded into a hill of ice.

The fountain had completely subsided, and the crowd cautiously continued their work. The crowd began to quickly collect the snow and ice that had erupted from Europa's inner ocean world.

In fact, scientists can't pinpoint the location of the fountain eruption, so they can only scan the ice layers to find areas of the ice shell that are relatively weak or have microscopic cracks, and then wait for the rabbit to stand by and wait for the rabbit.

However, this time, the crowd was able to capture the fountain eruption and collect research samples.

Theoretically, if Europa's oceans were Earth-like, these samples would be high in microbial populations. The reality is that Europa's oceans are certainly not comparable to Earth's oceans, and the marine environment here is much harsher than Earth's.

Therefore, the scientists involved in this operation did not find alien fish and shrimp washed up on the surface in the fountain, as expected.

A large number of ice and snow samples were collected and transported to the spacecraft's research room.

In total, more than 500 samples of underground marine water need to be tested.

In the first step, the collected snow and ice samples are remelted into seawater. The second step is to carefully examine and observe the water samples from the subsurface ocean.

The scientists were both excited and nervous.

Is there a dead darkness beneath the ice, or is it full of hustle and bustle?

This is a puzzle that has puzzled humanity for more than a century.

Yes, or no.

The end result must be one or the other.

If Europa's scientific exploration team discovers that there is nothing in the underground ocean. This means that the birth of life is not as easy as imagined. If it weren't for the spark of life sown by the creator, there would not be a situation where every inch of habitable land can burst into fresh vitality like there is on earth today.

On the other hand, if Europa's scientific exploration finally finds vitality in the ocean under the ice shell, then it can prove that the birth of life is common in the universe, and there will be all kinds of life blooming on countless other habitable planets, and human beings are not alone in this universe!

Half a day later, all the collected samples were analyzed.

The results were revealed, mixed with mixed blessings and hopes.

"No life of any kind was found!"

"Bacteria, viruses, no microorganisms have ......"

"The only thing to be thankful for is that we found the existence of multiple organic macromolecules."

Scientists are starting a new round of discussion based on the findings of the moment.

"The fountain erupted because of the pressure of tidal gravity, and eventually only the upper layer of water washed out of the ice shell. The oceans at the top are certainly relatively cool, and there is a high risk of being hit by high-intensity radiation. So, today's results only prove that there is no life on top of Europa's subglacial ocean world. ”

"That's true, you must know that under the ice shell is tens of hundreds of kilometers deep, we still have a good chance of discovering extraterrestrial life."

"Then, according to the plan, we should choose a relatively thin area in the area where the salt lake is located under the ice, break the ice and enter the subglacial ocean, and carry out the depth exploration work."

Scientists quickly scanned the ice structure and identified the target area for ice-breaking detection.

The area is an irregular area due to the collision of ice plates. In this area, the thickness of the ice is not more than a kilometer, or even only a few hundred meters (a high-risk area for geyser eruptions), which greatly reduces the difficulty for scientific exploration teams to break the ice.

At the same time, there is a huge saltwater lake beneath this ice layer, which is roughly three times the size of the Caspian Sea, the largest lake on Earth.

"It would be nice if we could manage to get sediment samples from subglacial lakes."

"As it stands, if life does exist on Europa, it may resemble organisms that live in the hot waters of the Earth's deep ocean."

"Moreover, judging from the environmental conditions, Europa's life forms can only be some low-level sea creatures, and it is unlikely that high-level creatures or intelligent creatures will appear. At least in the short term, we are unlikely to see it. ”

Scientists speculate that Europa's seafloor environment bears a strong resemblance to the "hydrothermal outlet" at the bottom of Earth's oceans. It is well known that many life forms exist at the hydrothermal outlet of the Earth's seafloor. Therefore, everyone still insists that "the probability of Europa having a basic life form should be very high." ”

If Europa's life had been born long enough, it was indeed possible to evolve life forms similar to those of fish on Earth.

It has been calculated that in theoretical models, Europa's oceans could provide at least 3 million tonnes of fish-like organisms to survive. However, judging from the current situation alone, there is not much hope for the discovery of alien fish and shrimp.

Europa's scientific exploration team has prepared two icebreakers for this operation:

1. Drill into the ice with a miniature version similar to a mining robot and enter the ocean to explore. Specifically, at least 100 teams of robots will be dispatched, each consisting of two robots with different functions (automated and fully sterilized). One robot drills through the ice in front of it to create a hole into the ocean, and another robot can follow the hole into the depths of the ocean, carrying scientific instruments that can circle and find microorganisms. However, there is a risk that the robot may be swept into the sky by a high-pressure and high-speed fountain the moment it digs through the ice.

2. Launch an "ice-piercing bomb" into the ice layer and use strong kinetic energy to break through the thick ice layer. At the moment when the ice breaks down, a large number of survey robots wrapped in protective shells are launched into the rift at the same time.

(No matter where you see this book, please take some time to help cast a free ticket, thank you for your continued support.) (To be continued.) )