On Saturn's icy moon Enchiladas, the final essential ingredient for life has been discovered, according to Chicago.
Phosphorus is a vital component of life that is used to make DNA and RNA. Now, the vital nutrient is found in the underground ocean of Enchiladas, according to Cassini data analysis. Planetary scientist Yasuhito Se kine, of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, presented his findings on December 14 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Not only that, but Se kine said that the essential element may be abundant on many other icy worlds as well, offering promise for the search for alien life.
"We realize that Enchiladas had the greater part of the components that are fundamental for life as far as we might be concerned — carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur" says Morgan Link, astrobiologies at the Stream Drive Lab in Pasadena, Calif., who was not engaged with the examination. Enchiladas appears to meet all requirements for a habitable ocean now that [phosphorus] has been confirmed.
Enchiladas is one of the most likely locations for extraterrestrial life, according to many researchers. It is a world covered in ice with a hidden ocean of salty water (SN: 11/6/17). In addition, the Cassini spacecraft observed geysers blasting ice grains and vapor from the icy shell of Enchiladas in 2005 (SN: 8/23/05). Organic molecules have also been found in that space-faring spray, according to researchers.
But researchers weren't sure if Enchiladas had phosphorus before now. The element is relatively scarce on Earth's surface. A significant part of the phosphorus is locked away in minerals, and its accessibility frequently controls the speed at which life can multiply.
So, Se kine and his colleagues looked at chemical data from Cassini about particles in Saturn's E ring, which is a halo of material from Enchiladas jets that surrounds Saturn.
Some ice grains in the E ring are improved in a phosphorus compound called sodium phosphate, the specialists found. They estimate that one to twenty millimoles of phosphate are present in a kilogram of water from the ocean on Enchiladas—a concentration that is thousands of times greater than that found in the vast blue ocean on Earth.
Se kine said that seawater and a phosphate-bearing mineral called apatite may react at the subsurface ocean floor of Enchiladas before phosphate is ejected into space through geysers. Carbonaceous conduits, a primitive material used to build planets, often contain apatite.
But there's more. Numerous other frosty sea universes might contain apatite too, Se kine said. In a similar vein, their oceans may also be carrying high concentrations of phosphate. Any potential alien organisms might benefit from this richness.
Se kine stated that despite the promising findings, a glaring problem arises. Why is there such a surplus of chemical energy and nutrients if life exists on Enchiladas? After all, life quickly scavenges any available phosphorus on Earth.
Se kine mentioned the possibility that the moon simply lacks life. However, there is an additional, more optimistic explanation. Life on freezing Enchiladas, he said, may basically consume the supplement at a lazy speed.
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