New research has found that a specific form of life may be able to live on one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus.
Enceladus is a small moon of Saturn, roughly 500km across with a surface covered in ice, but it is the presence of an ocean of salty liquid water beneath the ice that has scientists excited.
Researchers have long since claimed the conditions could provide a home for alien life, but now a new study has revealed that specific organisms would actually be able to live there.
They recreated the conditions of the moon’s seafloor
In the new study, researchers recreated the conditions that are thought to exist on the seafloor of Enceladus. Upon doing so, they found that microorganisms called archaea were able to adapt to live there.
“Enceladus is considered to be one of the most promising places to search for extraterrestrial life,” said Vanessa Helmbrecht, the study’s lead author. “Our experiments show that its unique geochemistry could create conditions that are even more favourable for microbial life than we had previously thought.”
The researchers have stressed that the study isn’t proof of life existing on Enceladus, but it does show that the moon can support one of Earth’s most ancient microorganisms.
Therefore, they hope that it will give a boost to future attempts to head to Enceladus and bring back samples from its ocean for further study. The European Space Agency already plans to do so with a space mission launching in 2042.
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
