A SCIENCE EXPEDITION / 3 CHAPTERS / 8 STOPS
The Ocean Nobody Has Seen
How can we investigate an ocean we cannot reach?
Begin beneath alien ice, follow the instruments that can reach it, and decide how far the evidence really goes. An ocean, a habitable environment and living organisms are three different claims.
60–100 minutes, across several visits. No deadline; each chapter is a natural place to pause.
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EXPEDITION COMPLETE
You followed the evidence.
Which ocean claim has the strongest support, and which claim would require an entirely different kind of measurement?
Your completion marks record your journey, not a qualification or a test score. Revisit any stop below, or choose another expedition.
Choose another expedition →Chapter 1 · A world with a hidden interior
- 01
Field guide
Begin with the ocean worlds
Ready to exploreFind the difference between evidence for water, evidence for habitability and evidence for life.
- 02
3D Atlas
Find Europa beside Jupiter
Ready to exploreExplore Europa in Jupiter’s system. What can a surface view tell you, and what remains hidden? The Atlas is an illustration, not a subsurface measurement.
Chapter 2 · Listen to the instruments
- 03
Evidence File
Read Europa’s magnetic reply
Ready to exploreTrace the observation, the conducting-layer inference and the limits of what the magnetic measurements establish.
- 04
3D Atlas
Descend into Earth’s dark ocean
Ready to exploreUse Earth’s illustrated deep ocean to consider energy without sunlight. Which comparisons might help on an icy moon, and which would need new evidence?
- 05
Evidence File
Follow the grains from Enceladus
Ready to exploreIdentify what the sampled grains reveal about chemistry. Why would ingredients associated with life still fall short of detecting organisms?
Chapter 3 · Decide what to ask next
- 06
Evidence File
Test the Pluto alternative
Ready to exploreCompare the ocean interpretation with the alternative interior model. What observation could help separate them?
- 07
Investigation
Face the energy question
Ready to exploreConsider why liquid water alone does not settle habitability. Separate the model’s assumptions from an actual measurement of Europa’s seafloor.
- 08
Printable activity
Build your own ocean argument
Ready to exploreUse the activity to assemble an evidence-based explanation. Finish by naming one uncertainty and one useful next measurement.
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