SoylentNews

Phoenix666 writes:

CNet:

Europa, the fourth-biggest moon orbiting gas giant Jupiter, hides a salty, liquid ocean underneath its icy shell and thus, may harbor the ingredients necessary for life. A new study has found that Europa's surface is full of sodium chloride -- table salt -- and concludes the hidden ocean underneath Europa's ice may be more similar to Earth's oceans than previously imagined.

The study, published Wednesday in Science Advances by researchers at Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, show for the first time how yellow patches on Europa's surface, first noticed by NASA proves Voyager and Galileo decades ago, actually indicate the presence of sodium chloride.

Excellent! The astronaut who catches the first Europan fish won't have to send away for seasoning.

Also at Caltech.

Sodium chloride on the surface of Europa (open, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw7123) (DX)

Original Submission