Alien life in our Solar System? Study hints at Saturn's moon

Humanity may need look no further than our own Solar System in the search for alien life, researchers probing one of Saturn's moons said Tuesday.

The icy orb known as Enceladus may boast ideal living conditions for single-celled microorganisms known as archaeans found in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, they reported in the science journal Nature Communications.

A methanogenic (methane-producing) archaean called Methanothermococcus okinawensis thrived in laboratory conditions mimicking those thought to exist on Saturn's satellite, the team said.

On Earth, this type of archaean is found at very hot temperatures near deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas into methane.

Continued...
Source

 

Saturn's moon, the icy orb known as Enceladus, may boast ideal living conditions for single-celled microorganisms known as archaeans, according to a new study

Source / Image Courtesy

 

Previous research has suggested that Enceladus sports an ocean of liquid water—a key ingredient for life—beneath its icy surface

Source / Image Courtesy

 

NASA's Cassini spacecraft discovered hydrogen in the plume of gas and icy particles spraying from Saturn's moon Enceladus. The discovery means the small, icy moon — which has a global ocean under its surface — has a source of chemical energy that could be useful for microbes, if any exist there.

The finding also provides further evidence that warm, mineral-laden water is pouring into the ocean from vents in the seafloor. On Earth, such hydrothermal vents support thriving communities of life in complete isolation from sunlight.

Enceladus now appears likely to have all three of the ingredients scientists think life needs: liquid water, a source of energy (like sunlight or chemical energy), and the right chemical ingredients (like carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen).

Cassini is not able to detect life, and has found no evidence that Enceladus is inhabited. But if life is there, that means life is probably common throughout the cosmos; if life has not evolved there, it would suggest life is probably more complicated or unlikely than we have thought.

Either way the implications are profound. Future missions to this icy moon may shed light on its habitability.

 

On Oct. 28, 2015, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will take the deepest dive ever through the plume of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

Scientists hope this close flyby will shed light on what's happening beneath the moon's icy surface. With a global ocean and likely hydrothermal activity, could Enceladus have the ingredients needed to support simple forms of life?

 

How Cassini’s sleuthing revealed an active ocean world in orbit around Saturn.