Across the Universe – a Europa moment

On 14 April, the European Space Agency launched the “Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer”, or “Juice”. It’s a spacecraft designed to orbit Jupiter and make dozens of encounters with its moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. These three bodies are notable for having surfaces of water ice covering salty water oceans ranging from 100 to 1,000km deep. There’s even a tantalising possibility that life could be thriving in these oceans….