- Enceladus: Potential for life
- Organic compounds in vapours
- Cassini data analysis
Disguising a liquid ocean within, it is one of the most exquisite objects in our solar system—a glistening sphere of pure white ice.
However, despite its incomparable appearance to Earth, Enceladus, the sixth-largest moon of Saturn, may share a characteristic with our planet: the existence of life.
Scientists have identified organic molecules within the vapors of the moon that may be harboring microscopic ‘communities.’
Scholars hypothesize that these compounds may facilitate their metabolic processes or the synthesis of amino acids.
Specialists have identified phosphates, methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide as potential life indicators on Enceladus.
Jonah Peter, a biophysics PhD candidate at Harvard University in Boston, conducted new research detailing the results.
The authors state, “Here, we report the discovery of a number of additional compounds that are extremely significant for the habitability of Enceladus.”
Our findings suggest that a chemically diverse, abundant environment may have been present, which may have been conducive to synthesizing complex organic compounds and even the origin of life.
At least 12 miles of ice comprise the outermost stratum of Enceladus, which envelops a liquid ocean of water within.
Elongated, serpentine fissures on its frigid exterior discharge enormous plumes of water vapor and ice particles into the atmosphere.
Scientists hypothesize that frozen droplets from the enigmatic ocean, which may be an unspoiled subaqueous chasm teeming with life, comprise a fraction of these emissions.
Unveiling Enceladus
Before its 2017 mission termination, the Cassini spacecraft captured images of Enceladus’ plumes and traversed them in flight.
Mr. Peter and his associates analyzed data collected by Cassini’s Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) during flybys in 2011 and 2012.
The group examined billions of potential dispersion material compositions using a statistical analysis method.
Based on this information, they determined that the vapors are most likely composed of the five molecules that have already been identified: molecular hydrogen, water, carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia.
The organic nature of the molecule, which microorganisms commonly synthesize or utilize, makes the methane gas emission from the moon intriguing.
Based on the methane detected in these plumes, scientists have postulated that microbes might have existed or been present beneath the crust of Enceladus.
However, the researchers also detected ethane (C2H6), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), acetylene (C2H2), and propylene (C3H6), in addition to molecular oxygen and residues of alcohol (methanol).
The team states, “Such compounds may function as intermediaries in other metabolic reactions involving additional organics and oxidants, or as direct substrates for biological growth.”
The authors observe that the ability of these compounds to support life on Enceladus mainly depends on their dilution in the moon’s subsurface ocean.
However, the team maintains optimism that a multifaceted and varied “hydrothermal environment” exists beneath the frigid outer shell of the moon, most probably on the ocean floor.
‘Ongoing catalytic reactions’ fuelled by metal-bearing minerals in the ocean are further indicated by the aerosol’s presence of acetylene and ethane.
Experts will eventually have deduced every conceivable presumption about Enceladus from Cassini data; at that juncture, additional missions will be necessary.
The definitive determination of the presence or absence of life on Enceladus is likely a task that would be best suited for an additional spacecraft.
Science fiction writers will undoubtedly find inspiration in the extraordinary geological formation of this icy world, situated 313 miles from Earth.
Further comprehensive investigation of Enceladus’s oceanic material will necessitate future robotic missions, the authors of the study conclude.
