A study using data from @NASA’s Cassini mission has found evidence of a key ingredient for life – and a powerful source of chemical energy to fuel it – on Saturn’s icy moon.
Scientists have known that the giant plume of ice grains and water spewing from Enceladus is rich with organic compounds, some of which are important for life. Now, new analysis takes the evidence for habitability one step further with the strong confirmation of hydrogen cyanide, a molecule that is key to the origin of life.
Researchers also uncovered evidence that the ocean, which is hiding below the moon’s icy outer shell and supplies the giant plume, holds a supercharged source of energy. Unidentified until this study, the energy source is in the form of several organic compounds, some of which on Earth serve as fuel for organisms.
These findings indicate there may be much more chemical energy inside Saturn’s tiny moon than previously thought. And the more energy available, the more likely that life might proliferate and be sustained.
Scientists are still a long way from answering whether life could originate on Enceladus, but this new work lays out chemical pathways for life that could be tested in a lab on Earth.
A black-and-white image captured by the Cassini mission shows a tiny white dot that is the moon Enceladus against the backdrop of a massive Saturn with a portion of its rings showing. Also in this 2007 image are two other moons: Pandora, a bright speck hovering near the rings, and Mimas, at lower right.
SpaceInfo Club
A study using data from @NASA’s Cassini mission has found evidence of a key ingredient for life – and a powerful source of chemical energy to fuel it – on Saturn’s icy moon.
Scientists have known that the giant plume of ice grains and water spewing from Enceladus is rich with organic compounds, some of which are important for life. Now, new analysis takes the evidence for habitability one step further with the strong confirmation of hydrogen cyanide, a molecule that is key to the origin of life.
Researchers also uncovered evidence that the ocean, which is hiding below the moon’s icy outer shell and supplies the giant plume, holds a supercharged source of energy. Unidentified until this study, the energy source is in the form of several organic compounds, some of which on Earth serve as fuel for organisms.
These findings indicate there may be much more chemical energy inside Saturn’s tiny moon than previously thought. And the more energy available, the more likely that life might proliferate and be sustained.
Scientists are still a long way from answering whether life could originate on Enceladus, but this new work lays out chemical pathways for life that could be tested in a lab on Earth.
A black-and-white image captured by the Cassini mission shows a tiny white dot that is the moon Enceladus against the backdrop of a massive Saturn with a portion of its rings showing. Also in this 2007 image are two other moons: Pandora, a bright speck hovering near the rings, and Mimas, at lower right.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
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1 year ago | [YT] | 2