Spiky ice spires may stud the equator of Jupiter’s moon Europa
The tall structures could make it hard for probes to land along the Jovian moon’s equator
Europa’s frozen landscape could be treacherous territory for future lunar landers.
Jagged spires of ice may stud the Jovian moon’s equator, researchers report October 8 in Nature Geosciences. These structures, called penitentes, could reach heights of 15 meters and occur roughly every 7.5 meters, computer simulations show, potentially rendering parts of the moon unnavigable in future missions.
“All kinds of interesting things might be on the surface” of Europa, says Jeff Moore, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “You’d want to know about them if you wanted to send a lander.”