The Saturnian moon Enceladus presents a unique opportunity in our solar system to search for evidence of life, given its habitable ocean and plume that deposits organic-bearing ocean material onto the surface.
A paper led by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Amanda R. Hendrix says that an ample supply of relatively pristine plume organics could be measured by instruments sent to Enceladus' surface.
"We can learn a lot about potential biosignatures in Enceladus's ocean by sending a mission to the surface of Enceladus. Previously, it was thought that in order to sample the freshest material from the Enceladus ocean, you have to fly through the plume and measure plume grains and gases. But now we know that you can land on the surface and be confident that your instruments can measure relatively pristine plume organics—sourced from the ocean," said Hendrix, lead author of "Low effective ultraviolet exposure ages for organics at the surface of Enceladus," which appears in Communications Earth & Environment.
"We know that Enceladus's ocean is habitable thanks to Cassini measurements. We know there is liquid water, energy, and the chemicals carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. These are the ingredients necessary for life as we know it," Hendrix said.
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