Scientists detect something intriguing brewing in Enceladus' seas

The moon Enceladus has a huge ocean.

The briny sea is thought to have conditions that support life. New research shows that the water on the moon has a critical building block for life. It's an important part of genetic and cellular material. The second most abundant mineral is it.

The Southwest Research Institute found that one of the key elements needed for life on Earth should be present in the ocean of Enceladus.

It shows that Enceladus is more than just a body of water. Researchers were able to estimate the amount of phosphorus on Enceladus thanks to the research, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The data for the study comes from a legendary NASA mission back in 2008, when the space agency's legendary Cassini probe dove through jets of icy water Vapor, gases, and organic material that sprayed from Enceladus' south pole. The moon was a source of intense intrigue. The direction of planetary science has changed as a result of the discoveries of Enceladus. She said that Enceladus could be a habitat for life.

The ocean world's habitability won't be helped by the conclusion that there wasn't much phosphorus in Enceladus' seas.

This latest research uses updated, more detailed computer simulations of how Enceladus' rocky seafloor interacts with the salty seas. Scientists don't have any samples of Enceladus' core that could be used to land on a far-off moon. We know the core is rocky because of how Cassini interacted with Enceladus' gravity, and researchers have bounty of meteorites on Earth and clues from other extraterrestrial rocks that give compelling clues about what the rocky places in our solar system are composed of.

We don't know what the rocky core of Enceladus is made of, but we can make good guesses based on what we find in other places in the solar system. Chinese scientists have found a new mineral on the moon.

They are confident that they know what's dissolving into the ocean. It's a lot of the mineral. He said that phosphorus has a critical role in life.

A graphic showing how phosphorus dissolves into Enceladus' ocean. Credit: SwRI

Ice and water vapor shooting from Enceladus' south pole in great plumes. Credit: NASA

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The moon is 800 million miles away from Earth. For the foreseeable future, planetary scientists need to comb through the data collected by the Cassini probe to figure out what the alien ocean is really like. "We'd like people to continue studying the data from Cassini," said Glein, who noted this research is another step in the longer term scrutiny of this captivating moon.

A space agency like NASA may send a probe to land on Enceladus in the near future. If you were to visit the moon's south pole, you'd be able to see the snow falling from the ice covered ocean below. In an influential planning document, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine suggested that a probe visit and land on Enceladus. NASA is sending an orbiter to Jupiter's satellite in 2024 to investigate whether the icy moon could harbor conditions that would allow for life.

It's decades away from going to Enceldus. That is planetary science.

People wait their entire careers to answer these questions. You have to be patient.