The carbon dioxide on Jupiter's moon Europa isn't coming from its hidden ocean, which means that ocean might be less 'habitable' than we hoped.
April 15, 2026
Original Paper
The Fate of Frozen Carbonated Water at Europa-like Conditions
arXiv · 2604.08811
The Takeaway
We’ve long hoped that the CO2 on Europa's icy surface was bubbling up from a warm, life-supporting ocean underneath. But this paper shows that laboratory ice—frozen under the same conditions as Europa—doesn't match the light signatures (spectra) that the James Webb telescope is seeing. This suggests the CO2 is likely coming from somewhere else, like comet impacts or chemical reactions on the surface, rather than the internal 'womb' of the moon. It’s a bit of a 'cold water' moment for the search for aliens; it means the chemistry of Europa's ocean is still a total mystery and might not be as rich in organic material as we assumed. We're going to have to look much deeper to find signs of life.
From the abstract
We present the results of experiments probing the retention of CO2 in crystalline water ice, frozen sodium chloride (NaCl) brines, and flash-frozen carbonated water using diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy. Characteristic absorptions alluding to the formation of clathrate hydrates in crystalline ices and frozen brines are observed. NaCl in frozen brines does not affect qualitatively affect the formation of clathrate hydrates. Generation and stability of clathrates in crystalline ice trans