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Jupiter's moon Europa produces enough oxygen to keep a million humans breathing for a day

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft launching in 2024 will search for signs of potential habitability on the icy moon using a suite of science instruments, including looking for oxygen production.

By Emilee Speck Source FOX Weather
On July 4, 2016, the Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter. To celebrate its 50th orbit of the gas giant, NASA released 50 images taken by the spacecraft. 01:58

See stunning photos of Jupiter taken by NASA's Juno orbiter

On July 4, 2016, the Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter. To celebrate its 50th orbit of the gas giant, NASA released 50 images taken by the spacecraft.

Europa is becoming more interesting ahead of NASA's robotic mission to Jupiter's fourth-largest moon beginning later this year. 

Scientists with NASA's Juno mission currently orbiting Jupiter have determined that Europa is producing much more oxygen than some previous estimates. According to the study, published Monday in Nature Astronomy, the oxygen coming off the moon's surface is about 1,000 tons every 24 hours, enough to keep a million humans breathing for a day.

The findings were revealed thanks to data from Juno's Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) instrument. Juno's team flew the spacecraft by Europa on Sept. 29, 2022, to measure hydrogen and oxygen ions swept away by Jupiter's magnetic field.

Previous estimates of oxygen from Europa were anywhere from a few pounds to more than 2,000 pounds per second, but these new JADE measurements found Europa is producing 26 pounds every second, according to the study authors.

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Oxygen at Europa is interesting because scientists believe the world contains a global ocean below its icy crust and above a rocky mantle. Astrobiologists want to know if the salty ocean could contain life-supporting elements.

  • Europa - one of Jupiter's many moons
    Image 1 of 7

    This photograph of the Jovian moon Europa was taken in June 1997 at a range of 776,700 miles by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. (NASA)

  • This color-enhanced image of Jupiter and two of its largest moons—Io and Europa—was captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft as it performed its eighth flyby of the gas giant planet.
    Image 2 of 7

    This color-enhanced image of Jupiter and two of its largest moons—Io and Europa—was captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft as it performed its eighth flyby of the gas giant planet. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Roman Tkachenko)

  • Europa orbits Jupiter
    Image 3 of 7

    Europa orbits Jupiter every 3.5 days ( )

  • The complex, ice-covered surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft during a flyby on Sept. 29, 2022. At closest approach, the spacecraft came within a distance of about 219 miles (352 kilometers).
    Image 4 of 7

    The complex, ice-covered surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft during a flyby on Sept. 29, 2022. At closest approach, the spacecraft came within a distance of about 219 miles (352 kilometers). (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SWRI/MSSS)

  • Image 5 of 7

    Europa. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Björn Jónsson)

  • This pair of images shows the same portion of Europa as captured by the Juno spacecraft’s JunoCam during the mission’s Sept. 29 close flyby. The image at left was minimally processed. A citizen scientist processed the image at right, and enhanced color contrast causes larger surface features to stand out.
    Image 6 of 7

    This pair of images shows the same portion of Europa as captured by the Juno spacecraft’s JunoCam during the mission’s Sept. 29 close flyby. The image at left was minimally processed. A citizen scientist processed the image at right, and enhanced color contrast causes larger surface features to stand out. (Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing: Navaneeth Krishnan S © CC BY)

  • This highly stylized view of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was created by reprocessing an image captured by JunoCam during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29.
    Image 7 of 7

    This highly stylized view of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was created by reprocessing an image captured by JunoCam during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29. (Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing: Kevin M. Gill / Fernando Garcia Navarro CC BY 2.0)

NASA said Europa could also be getting oxygen through another source as charged particles from Jupiter bombard the icy crust, splitting water molecules in two and generating oxygen.

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"Europa is like an ice ball slowly losing its water in a flowing stream. Except, in this case, the stream is a fluid of ionized particles swept around Jupiter by its extraordinary magnetic field," said JADE scientist Jamey Szalay from Princeton University in New Jersey. "When these ionized particles impact Europa, they break up the water-ice molecule by molecule on the surface to produce hydrogen and oxygen. In a way, the entire ice shell is being continuously eroded by waves of charged particles washing up upon it."

Launching in October, NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will search for signs of potential habitability on the icy moon using a suite of science instruments, including looking for oxygen production.

The spacecraft is set to arrive in the Jovian system in 2030. 

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