How many M-Class planets do you think there are?

[Spider]

The average insolation at 1 AU is 1368 W/m². At the 5.2 AU distance of Jupiter, this drops by a factor of 5.2² or 27 to 51 W/m². This is just as much of a problem for photosynthesis as for solar panels*, not to mention the asymptotically 100% attenuation due to the estimated 20 km thickness of the ice layer on Io. Occasional cracks appear due to tidal effects, but any life would have to very fast to migrate in the direction of a dim light source and to evolve before getting rapidly frozen.

* Not being equipped with radioisotope thermoelectric generators, the Juno probe to Jupiter, launched in 2011, required the three largest solar panels ever deployed on a planetary probe.

Any life on Europa would likely be chemotrophs.

 

[XCV330]

or radiosynthesis.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It would be difficult to have metallurgy and factories developed underwater by sea life without access to fire which land life has.

I wonder how true this actually is.

Underwater hydrothermal vents on Earth are metal-rich. Without a sufficiently thorough analysis, which I'm not convinced we know enough to undertake, I don't believe we can discount the possibility that in some cases practicing metallurgy might be feasible in such places (on other planets). It would, for one thing, require life that is able to survive sufficiently close to where the magma is erupting, "sufficiently close" being operative words.

 

[XCV330]

I wonder how true this actually is.

Underwater hydrothermal vents on Earth are metal-rich. Without a sufficiently thorough analysis, which I'm not convinced we know enough to undertake, I don't believe we can discount the possibility that in some cases practicing metallurgy might be feasible in such places (on other planets). It would, for one thing, require life that is able to survive sufficiently close to where the magma is erupting, "sufficiently close" being operative words.

we only have ourselves as a guide to go on how to build civilizations. but at the more modern stages, it would be hard to have chemistry in a total water environment, let alone electronics. Maybe their driver is the same as ours: scarcity and the rise of nations due to agriculture and city centers. Maybe they just really get curious about the surface, and so their equivalent to the "Space Age" the "Surface Age" begins much sooner correspondingly, with all the advancements that requires and generates.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

To bring this to Trek makes me think of species like the aquatic Xindi. Who builds their ships and stuff ?

 

[scotthm]

It wouldn't be surprising to find life elsewhere in our own solar system.

Why wouldn't it be? Biologists have no idea how life came to exist on Earth, so why should we have strong opinions one way or the other about life elsewhere?
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[Asbo Zaprudder]

To bring this to Trek makes me think of species like the aquatic Xindi. Who builds their ships and stuff ?

Rick Berman and Brannon Braga?

I suggest asking in the Star Trek: Enterprise or Trek Tech forums if you really care.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Rick Berman and Brannon Braga?

I suggest asking in the Star Trek: Enterprise or Trek Tech forums if you really care.

I did