Alternative energy sources could support life on Europa
Abstract
Energy pervades the solar system in a variety of forms, including electromagnetic and particle radiation, magnetism, heat, kinetic motion, and gravitational interactions. Life on Earth is sustained by the conversion of light and chemical energy into proton gradients across membranes that drive the phosphorylation of high-energy intermediate metabolites.The use of light and reduced chemical bonds as energy sources is not surprising on Earth, where the intensity of light is strong and an oxidizing atmosphere favors energy-yielding chemical reactions. However, any naturally occurring energy gradient that generates charge separation across boundary layers could theoretically yield the free energy needed to sustain life. Using specific, plausible examples from Jupiter's ice-covered satellite Europa, we propose that alternative energy sources could sustain life where neither light nor an oxidizing atmosphere is available.
- Publication:
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EOS Transactions
- Pub Date:
- 2001
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 2001EOSTr..82..150S
- Keywords:
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- Planetology: Solid Surface Planets: General or miscellaneous;
- Planetology: Solar System Objects: Jovian satellites;
- Marine Geology and Geophysics: General or miscellaneous