Chances of alien life on Saturn's moon recently got a boost

In what can be a boost to our efforts to search for alien life, scientists have found that Enceladus, a satellite of Saturn, has building blocks of life present under its surface. Enceladus is a frozen world the surface of which is covered with ice. Scientists think that there are oceans of liquid water below the surface, oceans that possible have life within them.

Now, modelling has indicated that the ocean on Enceladus is rich in dissolved phosphorus, which is an essential ingredient for life. The study has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“Enceladus is one of the prime targets in humanity’s search for life in our solar system. In the years since NASA’s Cassini spacecraft visited the Saturn system, we have been repeatedly blown away by the discoveries made possible by the collected data,” said Christopher Glein, co-author of the paper, in a press statement. He is an extraterrestrial oceanography expert.

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“What we have learned is that the plume contains almost all the basic requirements of life as we know it. While the bioessential element phosphorus has yet to be identified directly, our team discovered evidence for its availability in the ocean beneath the moon’s icy crust,” added Glein.

Presence of water significantly increases chances for life thriving on a planet or a satellite. There are many frozen worlds in our Solar System. Europa, a satellite of Jupiter is another example of a frozen world that scientists suspect has a liquid ocean under the surface.

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“The quest for extraterrestrial habitability in the solar system has shifted focus, as we now look for the building blocks for life, including organic molecules, ammonia, sulfur-bearing compounds as well as the chemical energy needed to support life. Phosphorus presents an interesting case because previous work suggested that it might be scarce in the ocean of Enceladus, which would dim the prospects for life,” explained Glein.

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