This week NASA held a live event to reveal
it’s latest findings about Enceladus, one
of Saturn’s moons.
Scientists announced that the Cassini space
probe has detected hydrogen gas coming from
cracks in the icy crust, indicating that the
moon’s subsurface oceans might be able to,
dramatic pause… support life as we know
it.
Finding hydrogen is a big deal because, it’s
a chemical we think is essential for life
to form, the other’s being carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur.
We have now detected all of those on Enceladus
except phosphorus and sulfur, but we suspect
those elements are present in its rocky core
as well.
To detect the hydrogen, Cassini passed through
a plume of mostly water vapor coming out of
the cracks - or “tiger stripes”- in Enceladus’s
ice crust.
Enceladus is too small to keep hydrogen in
its atmosphere, so the hydrogen must have
come from the ocean inside the crust.
The plumes of vapor spring up above hot spots,
indicating that hydrothermal activity exists
on Enceladus’s seafloor.
Again, this is kind of a big deal because
of what we know of our own planet.
Hydrothermal activity occurs on Earth where
water seeps into the seafloor and is heated
by magma.
The heated and mineral-rich water bursts back
through the seafloor and amazingly, ecosystems
tend spring up.
Instead of using the sun’s light to sustain
them, the organisms around these vents rely
on the heat and chemicals for their energy.
NASA’s scientists speculated that something
similar could be going on around Enceladus’s
hydrothermal vents.
Using a process called “methanogenesis,”
potential life forms could combine the hydrogen,
we now know is on Enceladus, with carbon dioxide
to produce energy, with methane as a byproduct.
Methanogenesis is at the root of our tree
of life, and may have even been critical for
life on Earth to get its start.
One NASA scientist was quick to point out
though that Enceladus might be too young to
have given life enough time to form.
The conditions could be right, but nobody’s
home yet.
If there is life down there, Cassini won’t
be going to find out.
Partly because it was never equipped to detect
life in the first place, frankly NASA didn’t
expect to find so many indicators that Enceladus
could support it.
The plan is to intentionally crush and vaporize
Cassini using Saturn’s atmosphere to ensure
it doesn’t crash into Enceladus or Titan
and contaminate any life forms that might
be living there.
Cassini’s Grand Finale is scheduled for
September of this year, one month shy of 20
years in space.
NASA’s next mission to an ice world will
be be the Europa Clipper in the 2020s.
The Clipper mission will study Jupiter’s
moon Europa, another ice word with plumes
of vapor rising above it.
At over 4 billion years old, Europa is much
older than Enceladus, and some at NASA believe
that extra time makes it a more likely candidate
for supporting life.
We’re just going to have to go there and
find out.
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So let’s say we find life on what of these
moons, what do you think happens next?
Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget
to subscribe while you’re down there if
you haven’t already.
If you’d like to learn more about the sea
life on our ocean floor and what it could
tell us to look for on Europa, check out Trace’s
video here.
One more thing…
We got nominated for a Webby Award for sending
a VR camera to the Edge of Space, and you
can help us win!Just go to webbyawards dot
com and search for Seeker.
Then click vote.
Simple as that!!
Or just click the link down below.
And, if you haven’t seen it, check out the
actual video on SeekerVR!
