The Battalion JN ATION Friday • October 10, Study: Findings sharpen chance for life on Jupiter’s moo 04 th \ WASHINGTON (AP) —The discoveiy of organic com pounds on two of Jupiter’s moons increases the possibil ity all of the elements necessaiy for life are present on Eu- ropa, another of the planet’s moons. The finding, received from instruments on the Galileo spacecraft orbiting Jupiter, suggests Europa may have all three of the ingredients scientists consider essential for life: an energy source, liquid water and organic molecules, Thomas B. McCord, a planetary scientist at the Universi ty of Hawaii, said. “This doesn’t mean there is life on Europa,” McCord, lead author of a study to be published Friday in the jour nal Science, said. “The exciting thing now is the evidence that Europa may have all three of the ingredients.” Europa already is known to have water and internal heat sources. Dale Cruikshank, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, said the work of McCord and his team should sharpen the research concentration on Europa, which already “is the subject of very spe cial interest.” “This finding increases the plausibility for life on Europa,” Cruikshank said. “It also supports the idea ‘This finding increases the plausibility for life on Europa. It also supports the idea that there were organic molecules streaming throughout the solar system. ,, DALE CRUIKSHANK RESEARCH SCIENTIST, NASA’S AMES RESEARCH CENTER that there were organic molecules streaming throughout the solar system.” The study of Jupiter’s moons is part of a growing effort by astronomers and planetary experts to find evidence of life within the solar system, particularly on Mars. A major goal of NASA’s Mars exploration, for example, is to search for the fingerprints of life on die Red Planet. Researchers have determined Mars once had vast pools of water, and there is speculation this could have led to the evolution of life. Some believe there already may be evidence of life in frozen underground water. NASA researchers also have found what some believe may be the fossilized remains of microbes in an asteroid that fell to Earth from Mars. The interpretation of that finding, however, is controversial. In the case of Jupiter’s moons, instruments on Galileo detected the complex organic molecules on the surfaces of the moons Collisto and Ganymede, suggesting such organics also are present on Jupiter’s other two large moons, Europa and Jo. “What we have on Collisto and Ganymede are some of the kinds of organic molecules that could be the basis for life,” McCord said. “These are the basic ingredients.” And if Collisto and Ganymede have these com pounds, said McCord, then it is highly likely the com pounds also exist on Europa. Water and an energy source, McCord said, are ] gles on the triangle of life.” By finding organics present on two otherta*., moons, there is a strong suggestion the third angltp triangle may be present on Europa, he said. Life on Collisto, lo and Ganymede is consider likely because of their dry climates. 1 No organic chemicals have been detectedonEi;fjy0 C but researchers have speculated there may be aiif. , p ^ game soup below the moon’s ice cap, and this cot. . ' warm, liquid place for the evolution of life. |r nci ' None of the research so far has proven!;® ^ or has ever existed on any of Jupiter’s moons, McCo; 3 a v ‘ J m phasized. nannati C He compared the research progress to ® cake is made. If Tn i' “We’ve got the flour and sugar and thev- at ‘ 1 1 make the dough,” McCord said, “and there’sasuK^ 61 that the oven is on.” Hoyle sp But assembling the ingredients doej s ?' on '® UI mean the cake has been made, he said. otes the ci Searchers scouring rural area for missii lilding the reworking r interdisci ^operative xDot mive plane, nine passengeij he Texa Jfetion (T: ■yersary (DOT empl Jal Transp< MONTROSE, Colo. (AP) — Search parties scoured the woods and mountains Thursday for a chartered plane that vanished while carrying eight employees of the fed eral Bureau of Reclamation and a pilot to a meeting in Arizona. Rescuers focused on a rugged, snow-covered forest 23 miles south of Montrose, where radar indicated the single-engine Cessna may have gone down shortly after takeoff in clear weather Wednesday morning. “The challenge is there’s a lot of thick brush and pine trees and low visibility,” Air Force Capt. Leslie Pratt said. The employees on board includ ed William H. Duncan, who man ages the Glen Canyon Power Plant and Dam on the Colorado River in Arizona; Jeff Waite, who manages the power plant; Delphina Holli man, Walt Kaltmaier and Catrina Wall, computer specialists; and Jim Bloomfield, electrical engineex*. All worked at the Bureau of Reclama tion’s Page, Ariz., office. The two other bureau employees aboard were A1 Inman, who man ages the agency’s Montrose office, and Jon Nees, a safety and occupa tional health specialist, also of the Montrose office. The plane, owned by Scenic Air lines Inc. of Arizona, had left Montrose on a 90-minute flight to Page. The plane never reached its desisted by tt and a search began around n ,s titute tod Dozens of volunteers cc® 1 © confi the ground until dark. Ov ar ftnental temperatures dropped n Ce awards 20s, and three inches ofsnt le state’s t on the ground from a storrA mn,i ssion er this week. . TxDOT he The search resumed at daw ' n T92 Thursday as 10 planes foci ,a ^ zeci a C( an area known as the Una Sreement \ gre Plateau, where elevatior^aP- anc) ^ as high as 10,000 feet. ' wecl two y ( Six other planes seA. routes between Montrose Bp Page. Those paths wouldhaiiHLuji^ en the aircraft over landsccf' l ' ll,l, ' > eluding high mountains,pkwalter V ' and dense forest. Kiollege c At agency offices throughoiBed as th region, workers were tryinf l§0ffice of main optimistic their colfcWident Dr. would be found alive, spigan the pc woman Susan lams said. VVendler i; “This is a great shock to usttUniversit we’re trying to keep ourspiritsifehelp of a lams said. “We’re hopmgfoiapfjdty meml tive outcome.” The employees had arrive: Montrose Tuesday foramee and were scheduled to return night, but bad weather delayeif. ^ flight until Wednesday. *©0 C* The pilot, Robert Armstroii j of Phoenix, had been flyinjlp^Cl 1 Scenic for 10 years, airlines* ^ p ec j Q r( woman Irit Langness said. xj 8 y st. Ihurch, 60C 'ard V. V ate dear jure, was ept. 15. Texas universitifim experience declin in enrollment for ’9 AUSTIN (/ Jes A. Mir |jfe-sustai Linda Mi irlhe Jam 'eiim in Do unowned a 'ato stop t AUSTIN (AP) — Enrollment at the state’s public universities con tinued to decline this fall, with blacks making up a slightly small er percentage of all students. At the same time, overall high er education enrollment — at public, private and professional schools — increased by 12,514 stu dents, 1.35 percent. The Texas Higher Education Co ordinating Board released the num bers Thursday based on a count of college and university students on the 12th day of classes. According to the board, the state’s public universities reported a total of 397,050 students, a de crease of 243 from last year. The figures continue a trend toward lower enrollment from the high of 410,706 reached in the fall 1992. Blacks account for nine percent of university enrollment, or 35,827 students, down from 36,303 last fall, when they represented 9.14 percent. While the number of Hispanics in public universities decreased to 73,574 from 74,510, they represent a larger percentage of students — in creasing from 18.52 to 18.8 this year. Sen. Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleas ant, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said the figures do not show significant change. “The significance is that there has not been any big drop off in en rollment of minorities because of Hopwood,” Ratliff said, referring to a federal court ruling banning the use of race in scholarship and ad missions decisions in Texas. He said the report also shows the number of whites in state pub lic universities is decreasing. Ac cording to the board, whites rep resent 61.5 percent ofstude: iS f. week ' . drop from 62.59 last year. Hlscondl Ratliff said the decline toils ce his de the state’s changing demograpk Gary Bledsoe, head oft! tional Association for vancement of Colored Texas, said the numbers mi put in context. “When you see nation