You have 100 bucks. How much would you bet on:
A. Europa has a liquid ocean
B. Europa currently harbors life
If life existed on Europa, it would obviously need energy.
A convientient way to get it would be to tap hot springs, much like the famed tube worms on Earth.
Another possibility is simply to exploit the temperature difference between the colder waters near the surface of the ocean (if it exists!) and the warm waters below. Granted, the organism would have to be rather large (miles) in lenghth, but if you look at the towering columns of kelp that exist on earth, it seems possible.
Sunlight, while avalible in the depths of the ocean, is sometime avalible near the surface. A life form might take advantage of that oppurtunity.
Life could even exist in the ice of Europa, with the help of natural antifreeze.
Finally, through some clever adaptions, it is possible life could take advantage of the electrical field assoisated with Jupiter (although the mechanisms behind this I can’t imagine…anyone here with enough biology to shed some light?).
The European ocean probarly does not contain too much oxygen. This may or may not be a problem (to my knowledge tube worms are not Oxygen dependant but I’m not sure about this).
Besides, it’s concievable that sulfur could do a lot of oxygen’s jobs (although not nessisarly with equal efficency).
Ok. This post is already too long. How about some opinions and answers? And bets!