Europa
From Acw
Europa is a Moon of Jupiter. It was given to the Italians in 2115 by the Germans, before the schism between the former Allies, when Italy became Neutral, and decided to limit its operations to Sol only.
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Geology and Geography
Geography
The icy exterior of the moon makes Europa one of the smoothest objects in the Sol system. Topographically its surface is virtually devoid of features, with the only relief structures consisting of recently formed impact craters.
Below the icy exterior and underlying saline water layer, the crustal surface of Europa is highly variable. Long volcanic mountains chains and trench systems criss-cross the crustal surface, following divergent and convergent plate boundaries respectively. However, these relief structures are the exception, with much of Europa's surface consisting of vast uneven plains, composed of ropey basaltic pillow lavas.
Geological Structure and History
Working from the inside outwards, Europa's internal structure consists of a central core composed predominately of iron, a semi-molten mantle and an outer crustal layer composed largely of silica. The mantle of Europa is proportinally thinner than that of Earth's. Surrounding the outer curstal layer is an additional water layer that completely covers the moon's surface. This water layer is stratified into a icy outer crust and a saline aqueous interior. The thickness of the ice crust is variable and ranges between 20-30km.
Europa is tectonically active, with internal convection driven by tidal friction. Geologically, the moon is largely one-dimensional and the entire crustal surface is covered in cooled basaltic material.
As Europa does not possess any cratonic regions, the complete geological history of the moon is impossible to determine. No rock on Europa is older than 60 Ma, with anything older long destroyed by subduction. All that Grossdeutschland and Italian scientists have been able to determine is that the current geological regime has been in place for at least a 60 million year period.
Life on Europa
Even well prior to colonisation, scientists suspected possible life on Europa. When Grossdeutschland scientists first arrived on Europa, they were ecstatic to find that the predictions were true and that the moon did possess life. Extremely primitive, the discovered organism is comparable to organisms classified on Earth as part of the Archaea. Named Chemobacterium novavita Ackerman and Ritter, it was found living in the numerous hydrothermal vents present on the moon's crustal surface.
When life first developed on Europa and under what circumstances has proven impossible to determine, and why life didn't diversify and develop as it did on Earth is still a subject of debate. It is interesting to note that since the discovery, only Grossdeustchland and Italian scientists have been allowed access to the moon and no samples of Chemobacterium novavita have been made available to the wider scientific communiity. Some UISA and GBE scientists have suggested that more advanced life forms are present on Europa, but their existence is being hidden from the other planetary and interplanetary nations. The Grossdeustchland and Italian governments have been quick to dismiss such claims, but even after their split with Germany, the Italians continue to knock back petitions to travel to the moon.
This page is about a Moon that exists in the game. It has been added to the wiki, but needs more details.
