Essential compounds for life are detected on Saturn's moon

Traces of an essential organic compound for life were found on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. The discovery was made after analyzing data sent by NASA's Cassini spacecraft and is in a study signed by NASA researchers recently published in the Royal Astronomical Society .

According to scientists, the same organic molecules had already been detected in the ocean below Enceladus' crust on other occasions, but not as now. It is a material capable of transporting oxygen and nitrogen, fundamental in the production of amino acids - complex molecules essential for the construction of proteins - without which there would be no life on Earth as we know it.

This is the first time such compounds have been found dissolved in water instead of frozen. This leads to the belief that they may undergo chemical reactions on the seabed, resulting in amino acid production, said Frank Postberg, one of the authors of the research, in a statement issued by NASA.

The Importance of Saturn Moon Discovery

Saturn's sixth largest moon, Enceladus may be a promising place for life off Earth, corroborated by this new discovery. According to Nozair Khawaja, another study participant, molecules coming out of the Enceladus ocean may be on the same path as the reaction we have on Earth.

He also points out that science does not yet know if amino acids are as essential for life in space as they are on Earth, but points out that finding the molecules that make them up in the frozen moon was "an important piece of the puzzle."

Detection occurred after a long process. First, the compounds dissolved in the deep ocean of Enceladus and later evaporated. Then they condensed and froze, forming ice grains in the fractures of the moon's crust. Gushing into the atmosphere, they were located by the Cassini spacecraft.

The Cassini Mission

Launched in 1997, the Cassini mission explored Saturn and its moons for several years. In September 2017, it was completed, with the spacecraft placed on a trajectory of impact with the planet, to prevent contamination of Enceladus or Titan if it plummeted into one of the moons considered capable of harboring life.