The study adds to the possibility of favorable lifetime conditions to Saturn’s Moon Enlade
Canaveral Cape, Florida – Scientists have discovered new types of organic products in icy geysers gushing from the moon of Saturn Enlade, reinforcing the probability that the world of the ocean can house conditions adapted to life.
Their results, reported on Wednesday, are based on the observations made by the Cassini spacecraft of NASA in 2008 during a near and fast flying over Enladus. The Little Moon, one of the 274 orbits of Saturn, has long been considered a main candidate in the search for life beyond the earth because of its hidden ocean and the uwater plumes of cracks near its southern pole.
Although Enceladus can be habitable, no one suggests that life exists.
“Being habitable and inhabited is two very different things. We think that the Enlade is habitable, but we do not know if life is actually present,” said Fabian Klenner of the University of Washington, who participated in the study.
An international team has decided to launch a new analysis of tiny ice grains encountered while Cassini flew through the geysers of the moon. The grains were young compared to the much older geyser particles that found themselves in one of the most external rings in Saturn.
These new grains collided with Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer at 40,000 MPH (64,800 km / h), faster than the old ones. The increase in speed provided a clearer view of the chemical compounds present, scientists noted.
Organic molecules had already been identified in the ancient GeySer grains, but their age has raised questions as to whether they had been modified over the years by spatial radiation.
Scientists have found some of the same molecules in fresh grains, confirming that they came from the underground sea of the Moon, as well as new chemical compounds. The results were published in Nature Astronomy.
A world of water encapsulated by ice barely 310 miles (500 kilometers) with a rocky nucleus, Enladus is suspected of having hydrothermal vents on its bottom of the ocean, most likely like those of the Arctic. Moon water steam jets and frozen particles can extend thousands of kilometers (kilometers) in space.
“We are convinced that these molecules come from the underground ocean of Enceladus, improving its habitability potential,” said Nozair Khawaja, the principal of the University of Berlin, in an email.
Scientists promote new missions to explore more Enlade. Launched in 1997, Cassini has long disappeared; The spaceship was deliberately plunged to Saturn in 2017 following its joint mission by NASA, the European space agency and the Italian space agency.
“Having a variety of organic compounds on a world of extraterrestrial water is simply phenomenal,” said Klenner in an email.
The European Space Agency is in the early stages of planning a mission to land on decades of Enlade from now on. China has also proposed a landing mission.
NASA has a spacecraft on the way to another attractive target to hunt the ingredients of life: the moon of Jupiter Europa. The Europa clipper should start in orbit in orbit Jupiter in 2030 with dozens of Europa flies. ESA also has a spacecraft, juice, which heads for Jupiter to explore Europa and two other frozen moons that could contain buried oceans.
The underground oceans on moons “are perhaps the best candidates for the emergence of extraterrestrial life in our solar system. This work only confirms the need for additional studies, “said physics professor at Kent, Nigel Mason, who was not involved in the latest discoveries.
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