Experts say that the likelihood that one of the moons of Saturn may contain life has grown by finding many carbon -based substances erupted from Encladus.
The sixth largest Lun Saturn, Encladus has become one of the leading applicants in search of bodies that may contain extraterrestrial life, with the mission of Cassini – which ended in 2017 – The opening of the moon has a train of water ice grain and vapors that erupted from under the surface at its south pole.
Phenomenon Since then it has been captured by the space telescope James WebbWith a train reaching almost 6,000 miles into space. It is believed that the source of this material is the salty ocean, which lies under the ice bark of the moon.
Now the researchers studying the data from the Kassini mission say that they have discovered organic substances in a train, and some types of molecules were found there for the first time.
Dr. Nosir Havaja, a scientist of planetts at the University of Free Berlin and the leading author of the work, said that the results increased the known complexity of chemistry, which occurs below the Encladus surface. “When there is difficulty, this means that the suitable potential of Encladus is growing now,” he said.
Letter in the journal “Nature AstronomyHavaja and his colleagues reported how their previous work revealed the presence of organic substances and salts in ice grains found in the ring of Saturn, known as an “electronic ring”, which consists of a material thrown out of encheladus.
However, as Havaja points out, the material on this ring is months or years, which means that its makeup could be affected by radiation. On the contrary, the new work analyzes data collected from ice grains found in the train itself.
“It was only a few minutes of these grains,” Havaja said. “This means that what we are capturing here is actually a pure sample from the underground.”
The results based on the instrument data called the space dust analyzer not only confirm the presence of organic substances previously discovered in the electronic ring of Saturn, which indicates that they occurred from the inside of Englandus, but also show the presence of other types. And although some of the latter were previously discovered by Cassini tools, others were not previously discovered in a slope.
Although new conclusions do not show that there is life on Enchelad, Havaja said that they indicate complex chemical paths that can lead to the formation of substances that may have biological meanings.
Results, he added, supports plans European space agency (ESA) to explore the moon for signs of life. “I think all the signals are green here for Encladus,” Havaja said.
Dr. Jern Helbert, the head of the solar system in the ESA and who was not part of the study, told Guardian that the plan of the new mission – which he hopes will be launched about 2042 – consists of orbital quality around the encoladus, which will also fly through the playworms, as well as the planting sediment, which will touch the southern region of the moon.
A new study, he added, proves that complex prebiotic molecules come from the underground ocean of the Encheladus. “This means that now we have all the elements necessary for Encladus for liquid – liquid water, energy and complex prebiotic molecules,” Helbert said. “This does so timely to send a mission that is looking for signs of life.”
