Fact check: Europa, a moon of Jupiter, has a surface filled with permafrost.

Verdict: false — Trust Score 5/100

The TikTok post makes several fabricated claims regarding the discovery of alien life, specifically sharks, on Jupiter's moon Europa. It falsely states that the Europa Clipper mission is a lander that has already deployed an aqua drone and made these discoveries, and includes a fabricated discovery date of October 12, 2029. While Europa is known to have an icy surface and a subsurface ocean, no alien life has been discovered, and the Europa Clipper is an orbiter that has not yet reached Jupiter. These claims are refuted by refuted by 15 sources including NASA and scientific journals.

Platform
tiktok
Source author
traa.putraeits — see all fact-checks of this account
Original post
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSCNHLvyM/
Verified on
June 24, 2026
Verification ID
xD-0BbDbu4hnNlBAinCvTg

Original content reviewed

Platform: TIKTOK Author: @traa.putraeits --- Caption/Description --- Kehidupan di bulan Jupiter #kehidupan #alien #fyp #jupiter #europa --- Audio Transcript (What was said) --- this is the most likely place that an alien in the Solar system Not on Mars. but in its moon planet Jupiter Its name is Europa. whose surface is filled with permafrost Scientists send an advanced robot named Europa clipper lender this contraption has to drill right through the permafrost tens of kilometers thick getting inside this robot releases sop aqua drone and this is where strange things start to happen under eternal darkness they found a huge ocean of liquid water would be wider than all the oceans on earth but the real surprise is not just water as this drone dives deeper into the European ocean floor camera captured something unexpected not just rocks or water currents but rather signs of life whose shape is really beyond our reasoning this is a photo of a mysterious creature captured by the tool and scientists predict this is a type of shark and is named after the root found at a depth of 30km where do you guys think is this a lie or right there are other creatures out there yet hide behind the ice haha --- On-Screen Text (OCR) --- YT: PIPOX. di --- YT: PIPOX. Europa Moon dream permukaannya --- YT: PIPOX. mengebor --- YT : PIPOX. robot --- YT:PIPOX. mulai --- YT: PROX. cair --- YT : PIPOX. kejut --- YT : PIPOX. dasar --- YT : PIPOX. batu --- YT : PIPOX benar --- YT : PIPOX. ditangkap --- YT : PIPOX. 30 --- "AKATATA RAI" EUROPA'S MEDIUM SHARK This species of shark was found at a depth of around 30 km. The length of the species is around 7m. This is the medium sized Europa's shark, as even bigger species have been found deeper below. The discovery was made by the submersible belonging to the Uranian researches, on October 12, 2029. So far, only 0.7 % of the Europa's ocean has been explored, yet many species have been discovered already. 3 shark species have been discovered so fa

Claims analyzed (6)

  1. verified: Europa, a moon of Jupiter, has a surface filled with permafrost.
    Europa's surface is consistently described as an 'icy crust' or 'water ice' with extremely cold temperatures, making it permanently frozen and hard like granite. While 'permafrost' is an Earth-specific term, the description aligns with a permanently frozen surface.
  2. false: Scientists sent an advanced robot named Europa Clipper Lander to drill through tens of kilometers of permafrost on Europa.
    The mission is named Europa Clipper, an orbiter, not a lander, and it is not designed to drill through ice. It was launched in October 2024 and is currently in its cruise phase, scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and begin flybys in 2031. While a future Europa Lander mission concept exists, it is separate and not part of the current Europa Clipper mission.
  3. misleading: An aqua drone released by the robot found a huge ocean of liquid water under Europa's surface, wider than all Earth's oceans.
    While scientific consensus strongly indicates a vast subsurface ocean of liquid water on Europa, estimated to be two to three times the volume of Earth's oceans, the claim that an 'aqua drone released by the robot' (Europa Clipper) has already found it is false. The Europa Clipper is an orbiter, not a lander with a drone, and it has not yet arrived at Jupiter. The ocean's existence was inferred from previous missions like Galileo.
  4. false: The drone captured a photo of a mysterious creature, predicted by scientists to be a type of shark, at a depth of 30km.
    No aqua drone has been deployed by the Europa Clipper, and the mission has not yet reached Jupiter. There have been no scientific discoveries or photographic evidence of alien life, let alone 'sharks,' on Europa. The Europa Clipper mission is designed to assess habitability, not to detect life directly.
  5. false: A 'medium shark' species, around 7m long, was discovered on Europa at a depth of 30 km by 'Uranian researches' on October 12, 2029.
    This claim is entirely fabricated. October 12, 2029, is a future date. No scientific body named 'Uranian researches' is known to be involved in Europa exploration, and no alien life, especially sharks, has been discovered on Europa. The Europa Clipper mission will not even arrive at Jupiter until 2030.
  6. false: Only 0.7% of Europa's ocean has been explored, yet 3 shark species have been discovered.
    This claim is entirely fabricated. No alien life, including shark species, has been discovered on Europa. The Europa Clipper mission, which will investigate the ocean, has not yet arrived at Jupiter, meaning no exploration of the ocean has occurred to determine a percentage explored or species discovered.

Sources consulted (20)

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