Europa Is The New Mars: How Sci Fi Follows Science
Frank R. Paul's Amazing Stories covers featuring Europa, September 1940 and January 1942. The cover heading for the 1940 issue is telling of how Europa figured into science fiction until recently: "Life on Europa (Moon of Jupiter): This member of the solar system is only slightly smaller than Earth's moon. Science knows little about it, and thus, lacking conclusive observation, our artist pictures its life in imaginative style." Images used with the acknowledgment of the Frank R. Paul Estate. With the upcoming release of the major motion picture Europa Report, a couple of Jet Propulsion Lab scientists explain how science fiction has evolved in response to our growing understanding of space. As evidence has mounted in recent decades that Jupiter's moon Europa hosts a potentially habitable liquid water ocean larger than all of Earth's combined, NASA has made this ‘ocean moon' an exploration priority. Excitement about the real...