The safest place for life during a Gamma-Ray Burst? Europa!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15754786

With the discovery that there might be a 100km thick ocean below a 30km
thick layer of ice, I get the feeling that this is the safest place for
life in the Solar System. It'll be warmed by the interior heat of Europa
which in turn is heated by Jupiter's tidal forces. It should be a
paradise for single-cell life. If a giant star were to go supernova and
send a GRB in our general direction, Earth would be devastated with only
a meek little layer of gas as our only real protection. But Europa would
barely feel the effects only a few meters below the ice, let alone all
of the way down to its ocean. Jupiter's magnetic field is also likely
protecting the surface of Europa from most of the solar wind bombardment.

But would such a safe environment be conducive to producing advanced
life, especially intelligent life? I don't think so. If life on Earth
started 3.5 billion years ago (give or take), then the first 3 billion
years of it was spent on single-celled organisms. Only about
half-a-billion years ago did the complex life start appearing. That
complex life only started appearing because the Earth underwent a
disaster where the entire surface got covered over with ice (not as
thick as Europa though, but still Snowball Earth). When the ice melted,
diversity and complexity took off.

We're the products of a less-than-ideal protection environment.

Yousuf Khan

On Nov 30, 10:42*am, Yousuf Khan wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15754786

With the discovery that there might be a 100km thick ocean below a 30km
thick layer of ice, I get the feeling that this is the safest place for
life in the Solar System. It'll be warmed by the interior heat of Europa
which in turn is heated by Jupiter's tidal forces. It should be a
paradise for single-cell life. If a giant star were to go supernova and
send a GRB in our general direction, Earth would be devastated with only
a meek little layer of gas as our only real protection. But Europa would
barely feel the effects only a few meters below the ice, let alone all
of the way down to its ocean. Jupiter's magnetic field is also likely
protecting the surface of Europa from most of the solar wind bombardment.

But would such a safe environment be conducive to producing advanced
life, especially intelligent life? I don't think so. If life on Earth
started 3.5 billion years ago (give or take), then the first 3 billion
years of it was spent on single-celled organisms. Only about
half-a-billion years ago did the complex life start appearing. That
complex life only started appearing because the Earth underwent a
disaster where the entire surface got covered over with ice (not as
thick as Europa though, but still Snowball Earth). When the ice melted,
diversity and complexity took off.

We're the products of a less-than-ideal protection environment.

* * * * Yousuf Khan

Inside of our physically dark moon should also be relatively safe from
the worse gamma dosage the cosmos can toss at us.

Otherwise under that Europa ice looks like the second best location as
long as the nuclear submarines can be deployed and safely fly-by-
rocket landed upon it's icy surface, whereas they heat up their outer
hulls in order to sink through that thick ice.

About a million submarines should be a good start, at a cost of a few
trillion each should be within budget as long as you are a Rothschild
or perhaps China.

http://translate.google.com/#
Brad Guth, Brad_Guth, Brad.Guth, BradGuth, BG / “Guth Usenet”

On 30/11/2011 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:
Inside of our physically dark moon should also be relatively safe from
the worse gamma dosage the cosmos can toss at us.

The point is that life is not going to start on (or under) our Moon, but
it very well might start in Europa. Might already be there. I'm talking
about native life, not some place where Earthlings can go to take shelter.

Yousuf Khan

On Dec 1, 7:17*am, Yousuf Khan wrote:
On 30/11/2011 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:

Inside of our physically dark moon should also be relatively safe from
the worse gamma dosage the cosmos can toss at us.

The point is that life is not going to start on (or under) our Moon, but
it very well might start in Europa. Might already be there. I'm talking
about native life, not some place where Earthlings can go to take shelter..

* * * * Yousuf Khan

If we put our life on/within our moon, it's going to do just perfectly
fine and dandy.

What sort of preexisting Goldilocks certified Edens are you expecting
to find?

Do you really think a naked Goldilocks certified off-world kind of
Eden place is just hidden under the next rock or situated under some
thin layer of ordinary ice?

Are you suggesting that we shouldn't consider any other planet or moon
that requires applied physics and advanced technology, to be viable
for us?

http://translate.google.com/#
Brad Guth, Brad_Guth, Brad.Guth, BradGuth, BG / “Guth Usenet”

On 01/12/2011 2:40 PM, Brad Guth wrote:
On Dec 1, 7:17 am, Yousuf wrote:
On 30/11/2011 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:

Inside of our physically dark moon should also be relatively safe from
the worse gamma dosage the cosmos can toss at us.

The point is that life is not going to start on (or under) our Moon, but
it very well might start in Europa. Might already be there. I'm talking
about native life, not some place where Earthlings can go to take shelter.

Yousuf Khan

If we put our life on/within our moon, it's going to do just perfectly
fine and dandy.

What sort of preexisting Goldilocks certified Edens are you expecting
to find?

Do you really think a naked Goldilocks certified off-world kind of
Eden place is just hidden under the next rock or situated under some
thin layer of ordinary ice?

Are you suggesting that we shouldn't consider any other planet or moon
that requires applied physics and advanced technology, to be viable
for us?

I'm suggesting that what sort of shelter we take during a GRB hitting us
directly is not the question I asked. The question that was asked was
what is the best sort of world to be on to completely survive a GRB? My
suggestion is that life that lives beneath a solid surface is best
positioned to survive.

Yousuf Khan

On Dec 2, 4:25*am, Yousuf Khan wrote:
On 01/12/2011 2:40 PM, Brad Guth wrote:









On Dec 1, 7:17 am, Yousuf *wrote:
On 30/11/2011 3:19 PM, Brad Guth wrote:

Inside of our physically dark moon should also be relatively safe from
the worse gamma dosage the cosmos can toss at us.

The point is that life is not going to start on (or under) our Moon, but
it very well might start in Europa. Might already be there. I'm talking
about native life, not some place where Earthlings can go to take shelter.

* * * * *Yousuf Khan

If we put our life on/within our moon, it's going to do just perfectly
fine and dandy.

What sort of preexisting Goldilocks certified Edens are you expecting
to find?

Do you really think a naked Goldilocks certified off-world kind of
Eden place is just hidden under the next rock or situated under some
thin layer of ordinary ice?

Are you suggesting that we shouldn't consider any other planet or moon
that requires applied physics and advanced technology, to be viable
for us?

I'm suggesting that what sort of shelter we take during a GRB hitting us
directly is not the question I asked. The question that was asked was
what is the best sort of world to be on to completely survive a GRB? My
suggestion is that life that lives beneath a solid surface is best
positioned to survive.

* * * * Yousuf Khan

Yes, and living under a thick layer of ice would easily qualify,
unless your planet or moon has some kind of extremely dense atmosphere
like Venus would also be relatively safe from nearby GRBs.

We could just as easily use TMBs to hollow out a sufficient portion of
our moon, thereby having 50+ km of fused paramagnetic basalt
protecting us.

http://translate.google.com/#
Brad Guth, Brad_Guth, Brad.Guth, BradGuth, BG / “Guth Usenet”

On 02/12/2011 11:47 PM, Brad Guth wrote:
Yes, and living under a thick layer of ice would easily qualify,
unless your planet or moon has some kind of extremely dense atmosphere
like Venus would also be relatively safe from nearby GRBs.

Yes, but Venus hardly has anything to protect.

Yousuf Khan