This liquid water, in combination with a silicate rocky seafloor and radiolytically producing surface oxidants, can provide a chemically rich ocean that would be considered habitable. Although Europa's surface may hold clues to the composition of an interior ocean, debate continues over surface chemistry and the role that exogenous radiation processing and endogenous oceanic formation plays on this. moon. One way to understand Europa is to determine whether the external composition reflects the internal chemistry of the ocean. Results from the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrograph (NIMS) instrument on Galileo inferred that Europa's surface was dominated by hydrated sulfate salts that would likely be present in evaporations from an internal ocean. Noting that these spectral signatures are more predominant in what appear to be younger terrains reinforces the hypothesis that these are more recent evaporations. A more in-depth study of the spectra, however, showed that these same NIMS surface spectra could just as easily be explained by a surface dominated by hydrated sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid is the likely result of the bombardment of a frozen surface with sulfur ions. These sulfur ions ultimately originate from volcanoes on Io, then dissociated, ionized, and accelerated by Jupiter's rapidly rotating magnetic field until they reach Europa. Such radiolysis could also clarify the sulfur dioxide and sulfur allotropes observed on the surface of Europa and their favored appearance on the more heavily bombarded rear hemisphere. The existence of sulfuric acid and other sulfur products seems almost inevitable, but the salt hypothesis remains compelling (Brown 1). If there were to be a mission in Europe, it could possibly...... middle of paper. .....out.com Chemistry. Np, and Web. May 2, 2014. Kivelson, Margaret G., Krishan K. Khurana, Christopher T. Russell, Martin Volwerk, Raymond J. Walker, and Christophe Christophe Zimmer. “Galileo magnetometer measurements: stronger arguments for an underground ocean in Europa.” Science Vol. 289 (2000): 1340-1343. Print. "Our solar system: Galileo's observations on the Moon, Jupiter, Venus and the Sun." Exploring the solar system: science and technology: Scientific features: Our solar system: Galileo's observations of the Moon, Jupiter, Venus and the Sun. NASA, nd Web. April 28, 2014. Showman, Adam P. and Renu Malhotra. “The Galilean satellites”. Science October 1, 1999: p77-p84Tyler, Robert H. “Strong ocean tidal flow and warming on the moons of the outer planets.” Nature: Letters 456 (2008): 770-773. Print.