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Moon · orbits Jupiter

Europa

An Ocean With a Lid

JupiterIoEuropaGanymedeCallisto
Europa around Jupiter, with Io, Ganymede, Callisto. Drawn to be seen, not to scale: the order and the direction are real.

Europa: a shell of ice over a salt ocean that may hold twice the water of Earth, and one of the best places to look for life.

What the song is built on

  • A shell of ice over a salty ocean that may hold twice Earth's water
  • Its surface is the smoothest in the Solar System, cracked with long red lines
  • One of the best places to look for life beyond Earth
  • NASA's Europa Clipper is on its way, launched in 2024

Established astronomy. The music is an interpretation of it — see the curatorial policy.

SoundUnder-ice ambient electronic, muffled bass pulses, glassy textures, sonar-like pings, hushed female vocal, 74 BPM, blue and mysterious

Lyrics
[Intro] Knock on the ice Something is listening [Verse 1] The smoothest surface in the Solar System No mountains and no craters left Just long red lines across the white Where the ice has cracked and shifted and slept Underneath, a hundred kilometres down Salt water moving in the dark More water here than all your oceans twice And not one single spark [Chorus] I am an ocean with a lid I am the question nobody can answer yet If anything is swimming here It is the one thing you will never forget [Verse 2] Jupiter pulls me, kneads me, keeps me warm The same hand that sets Io alight Gives me liquid instead of fire And a chance to hide a life Clipper left in twenty twenty-four Crossing the dark to find out what I keep Fifty flybys, cameras and ice radar To read what's written underneath the deep [Bridge] Maybe nothing. Maybe salt and stone. Maybe the second beginning. Either answer changes everything you know About how alone you are, and how the odds are running [Final Chorus] I am an ocean with a lid I am the question nobody can answer yet If anything is swimming here It is the one thing you will never forget [Outro] Knock on the ice Wait

Europa goes round

Solar System — 2026 Founding Edition — one of 30 songs, frozen as published.