Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Is Habitable, Confirms Breakthrough Study

Key building block for life found at Saturn's moon Enceladus: SwRI helped find evidence for phosphorus in the liquid water ocean beneath the moon's icy surface

The search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system just got more exciting. A team of scientists has discovered new evidence that the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus contains a key building block for life. The team directly detected phosphorus in the form of phosphates originating from the moon's ice-covered global ocean using data from NASA's Cassini mission. Cassini explored Saturn and its system of rings and moons for over 13…

Saturn's icy moon Enceladus harbors essential elements for life

The same team previously confirmed that Enceladus' ice grains contain a rich assortment of minerals and complex organic compounds, including the ingredients for amino acids.

Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus harbors essential elements for life

By Steve Gorman (Reuters) - High concentrations of phosphorus, an essential element for all biological processes on Earth, have been detected in ice crystals spewed from the interior ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus, adding to its potential to harbor life, researchers reported on Wednesday. The discovery was based on data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, the first to orbit Saturn, during its 13-year landmark exploration of the gaseous…

Saturn's icy moon Enceladus harbors essential elements for life

High concentrations of phosphorus, an essential element for all biological processes on Earth, have been detected in ice crystals spewed from the interior ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus, adding to its potential to harbor life, researchers reported on Wednesday. The discovery was based on data collected b

NASA Finds Key Building Block for Life in a Saturn Moon

The long hunt for extraterrestrials just got a big boost. Scientists have discovered that phosphorus, a key building block of life, lies in the ocean beneath the icy surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The finding was based on a review of data collected by NASA's Cassini probe, and it was published Wednesday in the prestigious journal Nature. Cassini started exploring Saturn and its rings and moons in 2004, before burning up in the gas giant's a…

Saturn's moon Enceladus has all the ingredients for life in its icy oceans. But is life there?

For the first time, phosphorus — the rarest of six elements upon which life as we know it depends — has been found in a tiny ocean-bearing moon in our solar system.