How scientists might find life on a moon of Saturn while skipping the hardest part

Researchers think they may be able to determine if there are aliens on one of the 83 moons of the planet.

Enceladus, which is 800 million miles away and 25 times smaller than Earth, has captured the imaginations of planetary scientists. The moon shoots water and gas into space. The spray creates a halo which contributes to the ring.

The scientists want NASA to support future missions to explore the world. One proposal would study it from the moon's ground and from space over a 1.5 year period starting in the 50's. According to The Planetary Society, the mission would cost over $2 billion.

A research group led by the University of Arizona has laid out a proposal for an approach that is relatively easy to follow. The study was published in a peer-reviewed journal.

"Our research shows that if a biosphere is present in Enceladus' ocean, signs of its existence could be picked up in plume material without the need to land or drill," said Antonin, the lead author.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this mosaic image of Enceladus in 2008. Credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute

What number of times? The paper says that over 100 flybys are possible.

To discover the presence of alien life, the research team has turned the problem on its head, instead of trying to answer how much organic material would have to be found to prove that life is there, they are focusing on the maximum amount of organic material that could be present without life.

It didn't seem like much more than a snowball when NASA first looked at it in 1980. Researchers have learned that the moon's thick layer of ice hides a warm saltwater ocean, releasing methane, a gas that comes frombacteria and other organisms on Earth. Between 2005 and 2017, NASA's crewless Cassini spacecraft flew through the rings and moons of the planet.

The University of Arizona and the Université Paris Sciences et Lettres in Paris collaborated on a project last year that claimed that the moon is burping methane because of life on Enceladus.

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NASA's Cassini spacecraft spotted plumes of material gushing from Enceladus in this 2011 image. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute

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It is unlikely that cells would be detected because they would have to survive the journey of being ejected from the ocean into space. The team of scientists believe that certain organic compounds would be evidence to support or rule out habitation.

It would be a strong case if the measurement came back above the threshold.

The definitive evidence of living cells caught on an alien world may not be known for a long time.