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The search for another inhabitable planet is nothing new and we have seen a couple of them through the years courtesy of the explorations from the folks over at NASA. Right now, there is another place that is being touted and it is Europa, Jupiter’s moon.

Europa reportedly lacks the proper volcanic hydrothermal activity though it’s oceans do have the proper earth-like chemical balance that could sustain life according to a study.

According to the scientists of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Europa is believed to be hiding a deep ocean of salty liquid water below its icy shells. JPL has allegedly compared the ocean's potential for producing hydrogen and oxygen with that of Earth and it seems that these two elements are key indicators of the energy available for life.

"The cycling of oxygen and hydrogen in Europa's ocean will be a major driver for Europa's ocean chemistry and any life there, just it is on Earth," claims Steve Vance, the lead author of the study.

Despite all that, volcanism is still seen as something needed if such an environment is to be made habitable. If such is not present in the rocky interior of Europa, the large flux of oxidants from the surface would make the ocean too acidic, and toxic, for life.

For life to exist in Europa, some kind of oxidizing agent may need to be injected into the ocean to instigate key chemical reactions with all the hydrogen below. If that is the case, Europa seems to have a proper origin of such which is the moon’s surface.

“The oxidants from the ice are like the positive terminal of a battery, and the chemicals from the seafloor, called reductants, are like the negative terminal,” said planetary scientist Kevin Hand and also from JPL. “Whether or not life and biological processes complete the circuit is part of what motivates our exploration of Europa.”

Apparently there seems to be a whole lot more of geochemical processes that need to be resolved before Europa can be considered as a proper habitat for human life. Until that is proven, the subsurface in other moons could offer something ideal – that of which is the right chemistry that can allow and support human life.