-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Monday, February 26, 2001 7:10 PM
Subject: Re: Europa submersible hypothetical
>
>In a message dated 2/26/2001 6:13:18 AM Alaskan Standard Time,
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>> >And on an unrelated note, speculation is that the ocean is extrememly
heavy
>> in salts and sulfuric acid, right? So what would Europan seawater smell
>like
>> if exposed to air? Sulphur stink? Ordinary saltwater? Or something else
>> entirely?
>> >
>>
>>
>> Well, it would probaly be pretty stinky -- although one thing made
>painfully
>> clear at the Ames "Europa Focus Group" I attended is that we have no
really
>> good data whatsoever about what kind of materials may be mixed with the
>> water. The only conclusion that could be reached is that there are a
lot
>of
>> sulfur compounds -- sulfuric acid, elemental sulfur and/or sulfate
salts.
>> In fact, Europa's water may well be so salty that the serious
possibility
>> was raised that a Europa Cryobot, in the process of melting its way
through
>> even a few meters of ice, would find itself solidly encased in
crystallized
>> salts -- making a mechanical drill in the nose an equal necessity.
>
>Bruce, or any industrialist out there... what can you DO with all that
>sulfur? Can it be used for fuel, of any variety?
>
Well, I ain't an industrialist -- and my knowledge of chemistry is minimal,
as you learned yesterday when I thought sulfur was water-soluble -- but I
imagine all that sulfur (and the organics likely to be floating around in
Europa's water-ice layer) would surely have at least local uses. But keep
in mind that mining Jupiter's moons for resources for a Solar System-wide
society would be wildly impractical: you have that huge gravity well that
you have to propel any substances you mine out of, and mining in that
super-intense radiation environment would be a very dangerous pain in the
neck. The only conceivable reason would be if there was something on
Jupiter's moons that can't be found or made anywhere else -- and I can't
think of any such substance.
As for burning sulfur for fuel: keep in mind that you have to burn it WITH
something, and Europa is singularly short on free oxygen (although it does
have a little, thanks to the breakdown of water ice by Jupiter's radiation).
I don't know what happens when you react sulfur with hydrogen peroxide
(which Europa does have in considerable amounts).
Bruce Moomaw
==
You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
