Europa is the smallest of the four Galilean moons that orbit Jupiter and the sixth-largest of its kind in the Solar System. But unlike its counterparts, Europa has a very smooth surface, which has led scientists to hypothesise that a water ocean exists beneath the surface, which may be concealing life. It was revealed on the Science Channels NASAs Unexplained Files how this speculation became a strong probability after NASA investigated a series of mysterious red lines that criss-cross the moon.

The series detailed in 2014: New discoveries suggest extraterrestrials may be closer than we think.

Less than half-a-billion miles from Earth, could creatures be living on an icy world scarred red by mysterious bloody lines?

In 1995, the Galileo probe explores Jupiter, but the gas giant is not NASAs sole target.

Galileo is also investigating the planets moons, especially Europa.

Blood-red veins criss-cross the moons icy surface, some bearing an uncanny resemblance to roads on Earth, others chillingly similar to the Martian Red Weeds in War of the Worlds.

Scientists attempting to explain the blood-coloured stripes remain unsure.

In 2001, NASA scientist Brad Dalton took a closer look by measuring the infrared chemical signature from Europa and comparing it with samples taken from Yellowstone National Park.

Mr Dalton explained: It has this strange reddish tint that looks kind of like rust, but it also looks a lot like some kind of slime.

It occurred to me that we have certainly seen all kinds of forms of life that have that reddish-brown pigmentation here on Earth, so why couldnt some microbes out there be providing this colourisation?

Wouldnt you know it, the infrared test matched up almost perfectly, the features we see on Europa could be explained by life.

It was all scary how well it matched.

The narrator claimed: A positive result suggests we found life on another world.

But Hubble astronomer Dr Neill Reid had another theory.

He said: Theres actually a lot that we dont understand about the environment on Europa.

The fact that the streaks are red means theyve got a particular kind of chemical in them.

The speculation is that it is probably sulphur thats contributing to the redness of those streaks.

If you find water, then thats the first step in saying that there could be life here.

In 2013, more evidence of a subterranean ocean emerged when Hubble spotted water gushing out of the moon near its south pole.

The finding led NASA scientist Chris McKay to theorise that organisms found on Earth known as extremophiles may also be on Jupiters moon.

He said: Extremophiles are organisms that live in environments that we humans would not want to live in.

So life on Europa could indeed look like what we see on Earth.

Small moons seem to be where it's at.

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Weve found life on another world How chemical signature of Jupiter's moon MATCHED Earth - Express.co.uk