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The search for life on Jupiter's icy moon Europa just got more complicated

Europa’s hidden ocean has made the icy moon one of the solar system’s most promising places to search for habitable conditions. Scientists have hoped that water from this deep ocean might rise through cracks and form shallow reservoirs that future spacecraft could more easily study. New simulations suggest that journey is unlikely because turbulent water would rapidly lose heat, form ice crystals, and clog the fractures, sometimes within hours.

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