Europa’s Hidden Ocean May Be Even Harder to Reach Than We Thought

For a long time, scientists assumed that the tiny water pools at Europa's surface came from the moon's deep, icy oceans. But is that physically possible?

Europa, one of Jupiter's icy moons, has long fascinated scientists because of what may lie beneath its frozen shell: a global ocean of liquid water. That hidden ocean has made Europa one of the most compelling places in the solar system to study the conditions that might support…