{"id":18995,"date":"2017-04-13T20:39:09","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T12:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/enceladus-plumes-suggest-that-saturn-moons-ocean-could-support-microbial-life\/"},"modified":"2017-04-13T20:39:09","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T12:39:09","slug":"enceladus-plumes-suggest-that-saturn-moons-ocean-could-support-microbial-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/enceladus-plumes-suggest-that-saturn-moons-ocean-could-support-microbial-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Enceladus\u2019 plumes suggest that Saturn moon\u2019s ocean could support microbial life"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_324760\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-324760\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-324760\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/170413-enceladus-630x426.jpg\" alt=\"Enceladus plumes\" width=\"630\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/170413-enceladus-630x426.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/170413-enceladus-768x519.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/170413-enceladus.jpg 1072w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-324760\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This composite image shows how plumes of water emanate from fissures in the surface ice of Enceladus, one of Saturn\u2019s moons. (NASA \/ JPL Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Scientists have detected molecules of hydrogen in plumes of watery material erupting from cracks in the ice of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn \u2013 and that suggests an ocean beneath the ice has hydrothermal vents that just might be capable of sustaining life.<\/p>\n<p>The findings, based on an analysis of data from the Cassini orbiter, are the subject of a study published today in Science as well as a NASA news briefing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve always wondered, \u2018Are we alone in the universe?&#8217;\u201d Linda Spilker, project scientist for the Cassini mission at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told GeekWire. \u201cNow, as we look out from our own planet, we find worlds in our own solar system that might have life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The direct evidence is still wanting, however. The research team, headed by the Southwest Research Institute\u2019s Hunter Waite and Christopher Glein, made their conclusions based on a chain of evidence that started with observations from Cassini\u2019s Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers focused on Enceladus\u2019 plumes&nbsp;\u2013 intriguing sprays of water vapor, ice and other material that emanate from deep fissures in the ice-covered moon\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n<p>The mere existence of the plumes suggests that a watery ocean lies beneath the ice, and scientists had already suspected that the ocean was fed by hydrothermal activity. The newly announced findings provide strong support for that suspicion.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"NASA: Ingredients for Life at Saturn\u2019s Moon Enceladus\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-nzaFDkDU7c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Cassini\u2019s spectroscopic readings revealed significant levels of molecular hydrogen in the plume material, and the researchers said that chemical activity from hydrothermal vents provides the best explanation for those levels.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, the team could use those hydrogen levels to calculate how much energy might be available for organisms in Enceladus\u2019 sea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have made the first calorie count in an alien ocean,\u201d Glein told Geekwire.<\/p>\n<p>In Earth\u2019s oceans, reactions between the water from hydrothermal vents and the surrounding rocks produce chemicals&nbsp;that can sustain microbes. Glein said the potential chemical energy in Enceladus\u2019 ocean should be \u201cvery similar to the amount \u2026 that hydrothermal vents pump out on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such findings come as thrilling news to Spilker. \u201cThe excitement here is that now you have something that can chemically interact with the rock to produce the kind of chemistry that can be used by microbes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that the findings are being published just as the Cassini mission is in its final months, almost 20 years after the orbiter\u2019s launch, adds to the appeal. \u201cThis is really a capstone finding for the mission,\u201d Spilker said.<\/p>\n<p>But the question about life on Enceladus is still an unsolved mystery.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_324781\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-324781\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-324781\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/170413-enceladus-cutaway-630x394.jpg\" alt=\"Enceladus cutaway\" width=\"630\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/170413-enceladus-cutaway-630x394.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/170413-enceladus-cutaway.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-324781\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This artist\u2019s conception shows a cutaway view of Enceladus that depicts possible hydrothermal activity taking place on and under the seafloor of the Saturnian moon\u2019s ice-covered ocean. (NASA \/ JPL-Caltech \/ SwRI Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI would say this is a very provocative result, supports what we know already and could very well be right,\u201d Carolyn Porco, a planetary scientist who heads Cassini\u2019s imaging team but was not involved in the newly published research, told GeekWire in an email.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut for me, its power is that it begs to be confirmed by a return to Enceladus with instruments that are designed for the express purpose of sampling a tenuous plume of material and returning a higher-fidelity result than we have now,\u201d Porco said.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>Read more:<\/strong> Hubble sees more signs of Europa\u2019s watery plumes, lifting hopes for life<\/h4>\n<p>A follow-up mission to Enceladus has been under discussion for years. However, NASA has been focusing instead on sending a probe to Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter that\u2019s also thought to harbor a hidden, potentially habitable ocean.<\/p>\n<p>Porco makes no secret of her preference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI say we press on with a return mission to Enceladus, to learn if Cassini\u2019s indications and our readings of them are correct,\u201d she said. \u201cThe next steps at Enceladus could be the most consequential ever taken in the history of planetary exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>In addition to Waite and Glein, the authors of the Science study, \u201cCassini Finds Molecular Hydrogen in the Enceladus Plume: Evidence for Hydrothermal Processes,\u201d include Rebecca Perryman, Ben Teolis, Brian Magee, Greg Miller, Jacob Grimes, Mark Perry, Kelly Miller, Alexis Bouquet, Jonathan Lunine, Tim Brockwell and Scott Bolton.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This composite image shows how plumes of water emanate from fissures in the surface ice of Enceladus, one of Saturn\u2019s moons. (NASA \/ JPL Illustration) Scientists have detected molecules of hydrogen in plumes of watery material erupting from cracks in the ice of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn \u2013 and that suggests an ocean beneath [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1874,2394,1559],"class_list":["post-18995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astrobiology","tag-cassini","tag-enceladus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}