Could one of Saturn’s icy moons harbor life?
That’s the question intriguing scientists based on evidence collected by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.
According to a new study published in Nature Astronomy, the evidence shows plumes of methane gas being expelled from Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons. The presence of methane means possible subsurface oceans on the moon could be inhabited by microorganisms very much like the ones here on Earth.
“We wanted to know: Could Earthlike microbes that ‘eat’ the dihydrogen and produce methane explain the surprisingly large amount of methane detected by Cassini?” asked Regis Ferriere, an associate professor at the University of Arizona and a lead author of the study, in a statement.
Unfortunately, it will take a while before they can learn the answer.
“Searching for such microbes, known as methanogens, at Enceladus’ seafloor would require extremely challenging deep-dive missions that are not in sight for several decades,” he added.
However, the team was able to develop mathematical models to determine whether the data from Cassini could be due to methanogenesis. They concluded the process could work the same on Saturn’s moon as it does on Earth, meaning extraterrestrial microorganisms could be the cause.
But nothing is certain.
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“Obviously, we are not concluding that life exists in Enceladus’ ocean,” Ferriere added.
“Rather, we wanted to understand how likely it would be that Enceladus’ hydrothermal vents could be habitable to Earthlike microorganisms. Very likely, the Cassini data tell us, according to our models.”
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