NASA announces Saturn moon may support life

NASA scientists have officially classified Enceladus, Saturn's moon, as one of the places in the solar system where life could potentially exist.

Saturn's moon Enceladus has three of the four elements needed for life. Photo: IB Times.

NASA's press conference at 2am today Vietnam time revealed that Enceladus, Saturn's 6th largest moon, possesses many of the necessary conditions for life and is officially classified as a place where life can exist in the Solar System, according to Telegraph.

The four necessary and sufficient conditions for life to exist are water, the necessary chemicals, a source of energy, and sufficient time for life to develop.

Conditions necessary for life on the moon Enceladus

The Cassini probe, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, has gathered important evidence that life could develop in our solar system. Cassini discovered that chemical and hydrothermal reactions on Enceladus could create an environment suitable for microorganisms to survive and thrive.

"The only life we ​​know of right now is human existence. But if life can develop on Enceladus, it means that out of all the billions and billions of planets and moons out there, there must be life somewhere," said Professor David Rothery from the Open University.

NASA previously discovered that this giant ocean of water exists beneath the icy surface of Enceladus, based on cracks that spew columns of material into the air on the surface of the celestial body. Scientists determined that 1.4% of the material in the column was molecular hydrogen, a product of hydrothermal reactions similar to those on Earth. 0.8% of it was CO2. These are the chemicals needed to create methane, the gas that bacteria at the bottom of Earth's oceans need to sustain life.

This August, NASA will crash the Cassini spacecraft into Saturn’s surface to protect Enceladus. Scientists will have to sacrifice the $3.3 billion spacecraft to avoid the risk of contaminating Enceladus with Earth-borne bacteria.

According to VNE