Scientists have made a discovery that reignites human hopes for the existence of life in space.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), scientists have discovered phosphorus on Enceladus, the sixth-largest moon of Saturn. Until now, no ocean beyond Earth had ever contained the element, which is necessary for planetary habitability.
High concentrations of phosphorus have been detected in ice crystals spewed from the interior ocean of Enceladus.
The space agency further stated that, using data collected by NASA's Cassini mission, an international team of scientists has discovered phosphorus, an essential chemical element for life, locked inside salt-rich ice grains ejected into space from Enceladus.
A high-resolution image of Enceladus.
The small moon is known to possess a subsurface ocean, and water from that ocean erupts through cracks in Enceladus' icy crust as geysers at its south pole, creating a plume. The plume then feeds Saturn's E ring (a faint ring outside of the brighter main rings) with icy particles.
During its mission to the gas giant from 2004 to 2017, Cassini flew through the plume and E ring numerous times. Scientists found that Enceladus' ice grains contain a rich array of minerals and organic compounds, including the ingredients for amino acids, which are associated with life as we know it.
"It's the first time this essential element has been discovered in an ocean beyond Earth," the study's lead author, Frank Postberg, a planetary scientist at the Free University in Berlin, said in a JPL press release.
Phosphorus is fundamental to the structure of DNA and a vital part of cell membranes and energy-carrying molecules in all forms of life on Earth.
The latest study stems from measurements taken by Cassini as it flew through salt-rich ice grains ejected into space from geysers erupting from the subsurface ocean beneath Enceladus' frozen crust at its south pole.
The spacecraft gathered its data during passes through a plume of ice crystals itself, and through the same material that feeds Saturn's faint "E" ring with icy particles outside the planet's brighter main rings.
The interior ocean discovered by Cassini has made Enceladus-about one-seventh the size of Earth's moon and the sixth largest among Saturn's 146 known natural satellites-a prime candidate in the search for places in our solar system beyond Earth that are habitable, if only to microbes.
(With inputs from agencies)
