Europa

June 17, 2054

The cells on Europa seem to die significantly faster than cells do on Earth. They also seem to reproduce much faster than those on Earth. I initially thought that the cells in my samples were simply just dying because they were not in their natural conditions, but this seems to be natural on this planet, the surviving cells then consume what remains of the dead ones.

It is still unclear to me why this is, but I have several theories. One is that this is a way for the cells to combat Jupiter's radiation causing damage to older cells. Radiation levels below the shield of the ice were lower than we anticipated but I would not be surprised if when I further analyze these samples to find some spiked levels of radiation. Besides, the earliest life could have evolved when the ice was not as thick in periods of higher radiation, and the cell life spans could be a remaining evolutionary trait. This can also be a mechanism to continue to adapt to viruses. The viruses in the samples we have collected are similar to variations to Earth, but they seem to act much more violently. It is unclear if these samples have been taken during some sort of European pandemic or if this is natural on this moon. The truth is for a lot of these questions there is simply not enough information to know for sure.

What is extraordinary is that while looking at this alien cell it is clearly unlike any cell I've ever seen on Earth, but it still looks and acts like a cell. In fact, they look a lot like the early organisms that appeared on Earth before life began to use oxygen as a catalyst for its chemical reactions. It is like looking back in a time machine.

On Earth these species that did not utilize oxygen, anaerobic life, were mostly unicellular organisms. It would be interesting to see if the larger organisms of Europa were also anaerobic in nature. It could shed light on how different conditions can lead to different evolutionary decisions.

It would be amazing, and traumatic, to go back down and take more data from the oceans of Europa below, however that is unlikely to happen. The submarine was badly damaged when pulling us up, dragging against the ice that had shifted in the quake. The damage from the dragging and the coat of ice that had encapsulated the submarine was so bad that Lee had to cut through the metal to get us out. He is currently attempting to repair what he can, but I don't know how I feel about riding in a welded submarine.

I feel bad that Lee did not have the opportunity to see what we saw below, but he seemed content with the videos we showed him. Lee seems like the type of person that is more interested in the potential of technology than alien life. Perhaps evaluating the intelligence of different species would entice him more.