Ice shards 50ft tall may cover surface of Jupiter moon

Shards of ice 15 metres (50ft) high could exist on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, posing a threat to landing probes, scientists say.

The moon, which is covered by an ice-encrusted ocean of salty water, has a habitat that may support life.

It is high on the list of targets for future interplanetary space missions.

Any robotic spacecraft landing on the moon will have to navigate its way around lethal obstacles, a new study suggests.

A team led by scientists at the University of Cardiff predicts that shards of ice up to 50ft tall could be scattered across Europa’s surface.

Known as “penitentes”, the formations are sharp-edged blades and spikes that point towards the mid-day sun.

They form through a process of sublimation that allows ice to turn directly into water vapour without melting into a liquid first. When lumps of ice sublimate, the jagged shards are left behind.

Small one to five metre tall penitentes exist on Earth where they are restricted to high-altitude tropical and sub-tropical regions such as the Andes.

But on Europa, conditions are perfect for the formation of giant penitentes.

Dr Daniel Hobley, from the University of Cardiff’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, said: “The unique conditions of Europa present both exciting exploratory possibilities and potentially treacherous danger.

“The presence of sharp, blade-like structures towering to almost 15 metres high would make any potential landing mission to Europa extremely precarious.

“We hope studies like ours will help the engineers to develop innovative ways of delivering landers safely on Europa’s surface so that we can find out even more about this fascinating place, and potentially look for signs of extra-terrestrial life.”

The research is reported in the journal Nature Geoscience.