Could the moons of Jupiter support life? I read a news article about a probe headed out to Jupiter. At the end of the article, it mentions a fear of "contaminating" the moons if it does not end it's life on Jupiter itself: > Juno's electronic heart is protected in a vault of titanium, but it too will fall to the harsh Jovian radiation environment after about a year. Juno's last move will be to dive into the planet's atmosphere to avoid any chance of contaminating Jupiter's potentially life-bearing moons. Is it really possible that life - at least as we have so far observed it - to exist in this solar system so far away from the sun? Could a life-supporting atmosphere provide ample protection from solar radiation as well as temperature?

It is possible, and the prime candidate where it might have happened is Europa. See < for more.

> Rothschild studies the origins of life on Earth and other planets. She's intrigued by Europa because it appears to contain likely key ingredients for life—water, an energy source, organic compounds, and billions of years of development.
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> Taken together, these ingredients are sufficient to support life, scientists say. To answer the question of whether life actually exists on Europa, however, requires further exploration with orbiters and landers like those currently exploring Mars.