According to an April 4, 2013 post on the NASA website, researchers have concluded that a chemical known as hydrogen peroxide, known to cover the ice bound surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, may be a key to the formation of life in the liquid water ocean suspected to exist below that moon’s icy crust.
The elements for life include organic elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur, liquid water, and some sort of light or chemical energy. Since light would not penetrate Europa’s ice crust to the subsurface ocean, scientists have concluded that some sort of chemical reaction, such as could be sparked by hydrogen peroxide, would be necessary to jump start the development of life on Europa.
“The highest concentration of peroxide found was on the side of Europa that always leads in its orbit around Jupiter, with a peroxide abundance of 0.12 percent relative to water. (For perspective, this is roughly 20 times more diluted than the hydrogen peroxide mixture available at drug stores.) The concentration of peroxide in Europa's ice then drops off to nearly zero on the hemisphere of Europa that faces backward in its orbit.
“Hydrogen peroxide was first detected on Europa by NASA's Galileo mission, which explored the Jupiter system from 1995 to 2003, but Galileo observations were of a limited region. The new results show that peroxide is widespread across much of the surface of Europa, and the highest concentrations are reached in regions where Europa's ice is nearly pure water with very little sulfur contamination. The peroxide is created by the intense radiation processing of Europa's surface ice that comes from the moon's location within Jupiter's strong magnetic field. “
The theory is that the hydrogen peroxide seeps down into the subsurface ocean. It decays to oxygen when it mixes with water, creating the necessary chemical energy to spark life, all other things being equal.
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