Colonization of Europa

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Space colonization

Mercury
Venus
Earth
- Moon
Mars

Asteroids

Ceres

Outer solar system

Jupiter
- Europa
Saturn
- Titan

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The Artemis Project designed a plan to colonize Europa. ^[1]^[2] Scientists are to inhabit igloos and drill down into the Europan ice crust, exploring any sub-surface ocean. The plan also discusses use of air pockets for human inhabitation. This Europa surface base would also make use of inflatable structures. Exploration of Europa and its subglacial ocean would be carried out with submarines. ^[3]

There are some difficulties related to colonization of Europa; one significant problem is a high level of radiation from Jupiter's radiation belt, which is approximately 10 times as strong as Earth's Van Allen radiation belts. Another problem being that the surface temperature of Europa normally rests at 103 Kelvin (-274.27 Fahrenheit). A human being would not survive at or near the surface of Europa for long without very large scale radiation shielding. Colonists on Europa would want to descend to and ascend from the surface relatively quickly, though not while Europa is passing through Jupiter's magnetotail, and stay in habitats buried under the surface while they're there. ^[4]