Even six years after its dramatic plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, NASA’s now complete Cassini mission continues to fuel discovery. Data from the mission recently revealed evidence that the giant plume of water vapor and ice grain spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus contains hydrogen cyanide. This linear molecule is key to the origin of life. Cassini found strong confirmation for the molecule and the possibility that the ocean under Enceladus’ icy outer shell holds a powerful source of chemical energy. The findings were published December 14 in Nature Astronomy.
[Related: NASA hopes its snake robot can search for alien life on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.]
In June, a new analysis of Cassini data found that, in theory, Enceladus has all the chemicals it needs to support life within its plume. The ocean under Enceladus likely supplies most of this material for the plume streaming off of the moon. This newly identified energy source also comes in the form of several organic compounds. Some of these compounds serve as fuel for organisms here on Earth. It’s possible that there is more chemical energy inside of this small moon than astronomers previously thought. The more energy, the more likely it would be for the celestial body to sustain life.
“Our work provides further evidence that Enceladus is host to some of the most important molecules for both creating the building blocks of life and for sustaining that life through metabolic reactions,” study co-author and Harvard University doctoral student Jonah Peter said in a statement. “Not only does Enceladus seem to meet the basic requirements for habitability, we now have an idea about how complex biomolecules could form there, and what sort of chemical pathways might be involved.”
The ‘Swiss army knife of amino acid precursors’
Hydrogen cyanide is of the most crucial and versatile molecules needed to form the amino acids needed to sustain life, because its molecules…
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