New organic molecules such as ethanol and acetylene have been discovered in the geysers of Enceladus, Saturn’s moon, which has a liquid ocean beneath its icy surface that could host life forms. This is suggested by a new analysis published in the journal Nature Astronomy by Harvard University’s Jonah Peter based on data collected by the Cassini mission. Between 2005 and 2015, the probe born from the collaboration of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency flew past Enceladus several times less than 50 kilometers from the surface.
It has long been believed that beneath the icy surface of Enceladus lies a large ocean of liquid water in which all the conditions and ingredients necessary for life exist, a hypothesis supported primarily by data obtained from Cassini probe flybys that could pass through the steam plumes of some of the geysers that characterize the icy surface of the Moon. Geysers that would bring water from the hidden ocean to the surface.
Data collected by Cassini’s Inms mass spectrometer made it possible to identify the chemical composition of the plumes, composed mainly of water, CO2, methane, and molecular hydrogen H2, but no smaller traces of other complex molecules could be detected with certainty. Now, using more sophisticated analytical techniques, American scientists have also identified the presence of other organic molecules such as hydrogen cyanide HCN, acetylene C2H2, propylene C3H6, and ethane C2H6.
They are essential molecules for life and increasingly support the possibility that primordial life forms may exist beneath a thick layer of ice. The discovery thus confirms the great interest in Enceladus, which could become a likely target for robotic missions designed to search for traces of extraterrestrial life in the coming years.
