NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected carbon dioxide in a specific region on the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa likely originating in the subsurface ocean, a discovery that has important implications for the potential habitability of Europa’s ocean.

Europa is one of the few worlds in the solar system that could potentially harbour conditions suitable for life as research has shown that there is a salty ocean of liquid water with a rocky seafloor beneath its water-ice crust.

However, scientists have not confirmed if the ocean contains the chemicals needed for life, particularly carbon.

Analysis indicates that the carbon detected on Europa’s surface likely originated in the subsurface ocean and was not delivered by meteorites or other external sources.

“On Earth, life likes chemical diversity – the more diversity, the better. We’re carbon-based life. Understanding the chemistry of Europa’s ocean will help us determine whether it’s hostile to life as we know it, or if it might be a good place for life,” said Geronimo Villanueva of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, lead author of one of two independent papers describing the findings.

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“We now think that we have observational evidence that the carbon we see on Europa’s surface came from the ocean. That’s not a trivial thing. Carbon is a biologically essential element,” added Samantha Trumbo of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, lead author of the second paper analyzing these data.

NASA had been planning to launch its Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will perform close flybys of Europa to further investigate whether it could have conditions suitable for life, in October 2024.

Carbon dioxide is not stable on Europa’s surface. Therefore, the scientists say it is likely that it was supplied on a geologically recent timescale – a conclusion bolstered by its concentration in a region of young terrain.