Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Dirk Schulze-Makuch

With plumes of matter rising up to 186 miles (300 km) above the surface, Io is considered a prime candidate as a hotspot for extreme extraterrestrial life.

“Everyone right away tends to categorically exclude the possibility of life on Io,” said astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch at Washington State University. Conditions on Io might have made it a friendlier habitat in the distant past. If life did ever develop on Io, there is a chance it might have survived to the present day, Schulze-Makuch suggested.

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The Daily Galaxy