Jupiter's tidal forces can be used to generate energy
the verdict
INSUFFICIENT LEANING
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
3 sources for · 0 against
The retrieved evidence indicates that Jupiter's tidal forces naturally generate internal heat within its surrounding moons through frictional dissipation, but the sources contain no information regarding the use of these forces to generate usable energy.
inclination relative to Jupiter's equatorial plane is small, at 0.470°. Like its fellow Galilean satellites, Europa is tidally locked to Jupiter, with one hemisphere
Europa ( ) is the smallest and least massive of Jupiter's four Galilean moons. It is observable from Earth with common binoculars and is a planetary-mass moon, slightly smaller and less massive than Earth's Moon. Europa is an icy moon, and, of the three icy Galilean moons, the closest orbiting Jupiter. As a result, it exhibits a relatively young surface shaped by tidal heating.
Europa consists mai
Ocean tides are converted to heat by frictional losses in the oceans and their interaction with the solid bottom and with the top ice crust. In late 2008, it was suggested Jupiter may keep Europa's oceans warm by generating large planetary tidal waves on Europa because of its small but non-zero obliquity. This generates so-called Rossby waves that travel quite slowly, at just a few kilometers per day, but can generate…
Europa ( ) is the smallest and least massive of Jupiter's four Galilean moons. It is observable from Earth with common binoculars and is a planetary-mass moon, slightly smaller and less
The orbital eccentricity of Europa is continuously pumped by its mean-motion resonance with Io. Thus, the tidal flexing kneads Europa's interior and gives it a source of heat, possibly allowing its ocean to stay liquid while driving subsurface geological processes. The ultimate source of this energy is Jupiter's rotation, which is tapped by Io through the tides it raises on Jupiter and is transferred to Europa and Ganymede by the orbital resonance. Analysis of the unique cracks lining Europa yielded evidence that it likely spun around a tilted axis at some point in time. If correct, this would explain many of Europa's features.
A tilt could also affect estimates of the age of Europa's ocean. Tidal forces are thought to generate the heat that keeps Europa's ocean liquid, and a tilt in the spin axis would cause more heat to be generated by tidal forces. Such additional heat would have allowed the ocean to remain liquid for a longer time. However, it has not yet been determined when this hypothesized shift in the spin axis might have occurred. == Bulk properties == Europa is slightly smaller than the Earth's moon. At just over 3,100 kilometres (1,900 mi) in diameter, it is the sixth-largest moon and fifteenth-largest object in the Solar System. It is the least massive of the Galilean satellites.
If the ice shell of Europa is really only a few kilometers thick, this "thin ice" model would mean that regular contact of the liquid interior with the surface could occur through open ridges, causing the formation of areas of chaotic terrain. Large impacts going fully through the ice crust would also be a way that the subsurface ocean could be exposed. However, research published in 2026 indicates that Europa's seafloor may be geologically "quiet" today. Modeling of the moon's silicate interior suggests that the rocky crust is too strong to be fractured by current tidal forces, potentially limiting the chemical energy available for life at the seafloor.
In May 2018, astronomers provided supporting evidence of water plume activity on Europa, based on an updated critical analysis of data obtained from the Galileo space probe, which orbited Jupiter between 1995 and 2003. Galileo flew by Europa in 1997 within 206 km (128 mi) of the moon's surface and the researchers suggest it may have flown through a water plume. Such plume activity could help researchers in a search for life from the subsurface Europan ocean without having to land on the moon. The tidal forces are about 1,000 times stronger than the Moon's effect on Earth. The only other moon in the Solar System exhibiting water vapor plumes is Enceladus.
This generates so-called Rossby waves that travel quite slowly, at just a few kilometers per day, but can generate significant kinetic energy. For the current axial tilt estimate of 0.1 degree, the resonance from Rossby waves would contain 7.3×1018 J of kinetic energy, which is two thousand times larger than that of the flow excited by the dominant tidal forces. Dissipation of this energy could be the principal heat source of Europa's ocean. ==== Tidal flexing ==== Tidal flexing kneads Europa's interior and ice shell, which becomes a source of heat.
Depending on the amount of tilt, the heat generated by the ocean flow could be 100 to thousands of times greater than the heat generated by the flexing of Europa's rocky core in response to the gravitational pull from Jupiter and the other moons circling that planet. Europa's seafloor could be heated by the moon's constant flexing, driving hydrothermal activity similar to undersea volcanoes in Earth's oceans. Experiments and ice modeling published in 2016, indicate that tidal flexing dissipation can generate one order of magnitude more heat in Europa's ice than scientists had previously assumed.
These various fractures are thought to have been caused in large part by the tidal flexing exerted by Jupiter. Because Europa is tidally locked to Jupiter, and therefore always maintains approximately the same orientation towards Jupiter, the stress patterns should form a distinctive and predictable pattern. However, only the youngest of Europa's fractures conform to the predicted pattern; other fractures appear to occur at increasingly different orientations the older they are.
In 2015, scientists announced that salt from a subsurface ocean may likely be coating some geological features on Europa, suggesting that the ocean is interacting with the seafloor. This may be important in determining if Europa could be habitable. The likely presence of liquid water in contact with Europa's rocky mantle has spurred calls to send a probe there. The energy provided by tidal forces drives active geological processes within Europa's interior, just as they do to a far more obvious degree on its sister moon Io.
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun, and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass nearly 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined and slightly less than one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. The diameter of Jupiter is 11 times that of Earth and a tenth that of the Sun. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU (778.5 Gm), with an orbital period
The moons discovered by Galileo—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—are among the largest in the Solar System. The orbits of Io, Europa, and Ganymede form a pattern known as a Laplace resonance; for every four orbits that Io makes around Jupiter, Europa makes exactly two orbits and Ganymede makes exactly one. This resonance causes the gravitational effects of the three large moons to distort their orbits into elliptical shapes, because each moon receives an extra tug from its neighbours at the same point in every orbit it makes. The tidal force from Jupiter, on the other hand, works to circularize their orbits.
The eccentricity of their orbits causes regular flexing of the three moons' shapes, with Jupiter's gravity stretching them out as they approach it and allowing them to spring back to more spherical shapes as they swing away. The friction created by this tidal flexing generates heat in the interior of the moons. This is seen most dramatically in the volcanic activity of Io (which is subject to the strongest tidal forces), and to a lesser degree in the geological youth of Europa's surface, which indicates recent resurfacing of the moon's exterior.
Jupiter has been visited by automated spacecraft since 1973, when the space probe Pioneer 10 passed close enough to Jupiter to send back revelations about its properties and phenomena. Missions to Jupiter are accomplished at a cost in energy, which is described by the net change in velocity of the spacecraft, or delta-v. Entering a Hohmann transfer orbit from Earth to Jupiter from low Earth orbit requires a delta-v of 6.3 k
Three systems are used as frames of reference for tracking planetary rotation, particularly when graphing the motion of atmospheric features. System I applies to latitudes from 7° N to 7° S; its period is the planet's shortest, at 9h 50 m 30.0s. System II applies at latitudes north and south of these; its period is 9h 55 m 40.6s. System III was defined by radio astronomers and corresponds to the rotation of the planet's magnetosphere; its period is Jupiter's official rotation. === Internal structure === Before the early
This feature is approximately 24,000 km (15,000 mi) across, 12,000 km (7,500 mi) wide, and was thought to be 200 °C (360 °F) cooler than surrounding material. The spot changes form and intensity over the short time periods while maintaining its general position in the atmosphere for more than 20 years. A series of global maps of Jupiter's thermospheric temperature, dominant molecular ion ( H 3 + {\displaystyle {\ce {H3+}}} ) density, and H 3 + {\displaystyle {\ce {H3+}}} energy radiance have shown this "cold" spot is instead a region of depleted ion density.
Electrons within the plasma sheet generate a strong radio signature, with short, superimposed bursts in the range of 0.6–30 MHz that are detectable from Earth with consumer-grade shortwave radio receivers. As Io moves through this torus, the interaction generates Alfvén waves that carry ionized matter into the polar regions of Jupiter. As a result, radio waves are generated through a cyclotron maser mechanism, and the energy is transmitted out along a cone-shaped surface. When Earth intersects this cone, the radio emissions from Jupiter can exceed the radio output of the Sun.
This resonance causes the gravitational effects of the three large moons to distort their orbits into elliptical shapes, because each moon receives an extra tug from its neighbours at the same point in every orbit it makes. The tidal force from Jupiter, on the other hand, works to circularize their orbits. The eccentricity of their orbits causes regular flexing of the three moons' shapes, with Jupiter's gravity stretching them out as they approach it and allowing them to spring back to more spherical shapes as they swing away. The friction created by this tidal flexing generates heat in the interior of the moons.
This is seen most dramatically in the volcanic activity of Io (which is subject to the strongest tidal forces), and to a lesser degree in the geological youth of Europa's surface, which indicates recent resurfacing of the moon's exterior. === Classification === Jupiter's moons were classified into four groups of four, based on their similar orbital elements. This picture has been complicated by the discovery of numerous small outer moons since 1999. Jupiter's moons are divided into several different groups, although there are two known moons which are not part of any group (Themisto and Valetudo).
These beliefs survive in some Taoist and folk religious practices and in the East Asian zodiac's twelve animals. The Chinese historian Xi Zezong has claimed that Gan De, an ancient Chinese astronomer, reported a small star "in alliance" with the planet, which may indicate a sighting of one of Jupiter's moons with the unaided eye. If true, this would predate Galileo's discovery by nearly two millennia. A 2016 paper reports that trapezoidal rule was used by Babylonians before 50 BC for integrating the velocity of Jupiter along the ecliptic.
They used Jupiter's roughly 12-year orbit along the ecliptic to define the constellations of their zodiac. The mythical Greek name for this planet is Zeus (Ζεύς), also referred to as Dias (Δίας), the planetary name of which is retained in modern Greek. The ancient Greeks knew the planet as Phaethon (Φαέθων), meaning "shining one" or "blazing star". The Greek myths of Zeus from the Homeric period showed particular similarities to certain Near-Eastern gods, including the Semitic El and Baal, the Sumerian Enlil, and the Babylonian god Marduk.
Tidal interactions play a key role in the dynamics and evolution of icy worlds. The intense tectonic activity of Europa and the eruption activity on Enceladus are clear examples of the manifestation of tidal deformation and associated dissipation. While tidal heating has long been recognized as a major driver in the activity of these icy worlds, the mechanism controlling how tidal forces deform the different internal layers and produce heat by tidal friction still remains poorly constrained. As tidal forcing varies with orbital characteristics (distance to the central planet, eccentricity, obliquity), the contribution of tidal heating to the internal heat budget can strongly change over geological timescales. In some circumstances, the tidally-produced heat can result in internal melting and surface activity taking various forms. Even in the absence of significant heat production, tidal deformation can be used to probe the interior structure, the tidal response of icy moons being strongly sensitive to their hydrosphere structure. In the present paper, we review the methods to compute tidal deformation and dissipation in the different layers composing icy worlds. After summarizing the main principle of tidal deformation and the different rheological models used to model visco-elastic tidal response, we describe the dissipation processes expected in rock-dominated cores, subsurface oceans and icy shells and highlight the potential effects of tidal heating in terms of thermal evolution and activity. We finally anticipate how data collected by future missions to Jupiter's and Saturn's moons could be used to constrain their tidal response and the consequences for past and present activities.
We finally anticipate how data collected by future missions to Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons could be used to constrain their tidal response and the consequences for past and present activities. status released display-pdf yes is-in-collection-domain yes is-olf no is-manuscript no is-preprint no is-journal-matter no is-scanned no is-retracted no Received 2023 Dec 28; Accepted 2024 Dec 30; Issue date 2025. Introduction The discovery of huge volcanic eruptions on Io by Voyager 1 (Morabito et al. 1979 ), theoretically predicted by Peale et al.
The confirmations were provided decades later by the more detailed exploration by Galileo (1995-2003) at Jupiter and Cassini-Huygens (2004-2017) at Saturn. Magnetic measurements performed by Galileo confirmed the presence of a subsurface salty ocean in Europa from magnetic induction (Khurana et al. 1998 ). On Europa, the presence of a subsurface ocean at a relatively shallow depth ( < 30 km) beneath a tectonically active ice shell is attributed to tidal forces which may fluctuate on geological timescales due to mutual gravitational interactions with Io and Ganymede, through an orbital resonance, known as the Laplace resonance (e.g. Hussmann and Spohn 2004 ).
2016 ; Beuthe 2016 ; Tajeddine et al. 2017 ; Čadek et al. 2019 ) further indicates that the ice shell is strongly thinned at the south pole, possibly thinner than 5 km. The intense activity observed on Enceladus is clearly related to tidal forces, but the processes at the origin of tidal heat production, and how the energy is concentrated to the south polar terrain and evolves through geological time is still strongly debated (e.g. Nimmo et al. 2007 ; Tyler 2009 ; Kite and Rubin 2016 ; Hemingway and Mittal 2019 ; Souček et al. 2019 ; Neveu and Rhoden 2019 ; Kang et al. 2022a ; Nimmo et al. 2023 ).
The latter are therefore studied in specific frameworks that relax these approximations by including, for instance, the full Coriolis force (non-traditional approximation; see e.g. Tort et al. 2014 ). By considering subsurface oceans of homogeneous densities for Europa and Enceladus, Rovira-Navarro et al. ( 2019 ) show that the inertial waves that could be indirectly forced by the equilibrium tide would lead to internal tidal flows of significant amplitudes (Fig. 8 a, c). Nevertheless, they note that the resulting tidally dissipated energy still remains several orders of magnitude smaller than Europa’s radiogenic heating and Enceladus’ observed heat flux (Fig. 8 c).
( 2018 ), the Rayleigh drag, f R , can be used to mimic the dissipation generated by bottom friction, f B . These authors established a relationship between the dimensionless drag coefficient of the non-linear term describing bottom friction, C d , and the Rayleigh drag coefficient, σ R , by assuming that the two drags generate the same energy flux for the same horizontal velocity field. Finally, one should pay attention to the fact that the bottom and Rayleigh drag, f B and f R , are both divided by the ocean depth when included in the shallow-water momentum equation given by Eq. ( 24 ), given that the drag is averaged over the water column in
Such resonant amplifications are likely in the icy satellites of the outer Solar system. Considering Europa, Tyler found that resonantly excited Rossby waves due to obliquity forcing could lead to tidal flows with a kinetic energy 2000 times larger than that of the flow generated by the dominant tidal forces (Tyler 2008 ). This first analysis by Tyler ( 2008 ), however, neglected the effect of dissipation which should damp the resonant flow and assumed a relatively high obliguity (0.05 ∘ ).
( 2015 ) show that the region of the parameter space where the tidal heat released in Io’s magma ocean reaches the observed heat flux is wider when the ocean is treated as a fluid than when it is treated as a solid. Furthermore, the increased energy dissipation induced by the dynamical tide allows subdominant tidal forces to generate heat flows exceeding those associated with the predominant forces for specific resonant configurations. With this effect in mind, Hay et al. ( 2020 ) investigate the possibility that Moon-Moon tides – namely the tides raised on moons by other moons – can lead to substantial energy dissipation.
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