A view of the icy moon Europa, which is believed to have an ocean hidden beneath its frozen crust (Image: Nasa)

A British space scientist has claimed alien creatures resembling octopuses could live on a moon orbiting Jupiter.

Europa is a freezing mini-world that’s a bit smaller than Earth’s moon and is believed to have a liquid ocean lurking beneath its icy crust – making it a prime target in the hunt for extraterrestrial organisms.

Now Monica Grady, chancellor at Liverpool Hope University, said it’s ‘almost a racing certain’ that Europa is home to alien beings.

She also believes life could be hiding in deep caves on Mars as these underground sanctuaries are sheltered from dangerous radiation,


‘When it comes to the prospects of life beyond Earth, it’s almost a racing certainty that there’s life beneath the ice on Europa,’ she said.



‘Elsewhere, if there’s going to be life on Mars, it’s going to be under the surface of the planet.’

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, with Io on the left (above Jupiter’s Great Red Spot) and Europa on the right (Photo: Space Frontiers/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

‘There you’re protected from solar radiation. And that means there’s the possibility of ice remaining in the pores of the rocks, which could act as a source of water’.

‘If there is something on Mars, it’s likely to be very small—bacteria.’

‘But I think we’ve got a better chance of having slightly higher forms of life on Europa, perhaps similar to the intelligence of an octopus.’

Grady also said the environmental conditions which caused the evolution of life on Earth are ‘highly likely’ to be found in other star systems.

‘Our solar system is not a particularly special planetary system, as far as we know, and we still haven’t explored all the stars in the galaxy,’ she added.

‘But I think it’s highly likely there will be life elsewhere—and I think it’s highly likely they’ll be made of the same elements.

‘Humans evolved from little furry mammals that got the opportunity to evolve because the dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid impact.

Could the Red Planet also be hiding traces of alien life? (Image: Nasa)

‘That is probably not going to happen on every planet—but it’s at least possible based purely on a statistical argument.

‘Whether we will ever be able to contact extraterrestrial life is anyone’s guess, purely because the distances are just too huge.

‘And as for so-called alien ‘signals’ received from space, there’s been nothing real or credible, I’m afraid.’

Evidence of alien life could be hiding just a centimetre beneath the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, scientists claimed last year.

The mysterious moon has no atmosphere which means – unlike Earth – it is bombarded with high levels of radiation.

Despite this, microbial fossils could survive for up to 10 million years lurking under the ice.

This means Nasa would not need to drill several metres into Europa’s hard crust to look for recognisable organic samples – something that is not possible right now using current tech.

Dr Nordheim, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said: ‘At mid-to-high latitudes, amino acids could persist at detectable levels a mere 1 to 3 centimetres below Europa’s surface over a 10 million year time scale.’



They could also exist within 10 centimetres in other areas of both hemispheres, he said.

Nasa is set to send a probe to Europa (Photo: Nasa/ JPL)

Nordheim added: ‘At the more irradiated equatorial regions, however, this depth increases to several tens of centimetres.’

This means a probe dispatched to mission might not need to dig too deeply to find signs of life, provided it knows where to land.

‘Observations of Europa’s surface made with an orbiter or close-up fly-bys – like those of NASA’s planned Europa Clipper mission – will be key to identifying such regions,’ Nordheim went on.

Dr John Cooper, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, said a lander should either probe deeper than ten centimetres wherever it lands or else do shallower measurements at high-latitude sites.

He said: ‘The lander itself would be the final judge of whether we have been clever or lucky enough to find a biosignature – perhaps one taking refuge from radiation within reach under a small block of ice, a sign of life we might most probably recognise as coming from our closest extraterrestrial cousin in the Universe of life.’