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Enceladus, one of the larger moons of the planet Saturn, appears frozen and desolate from above. But beneath its outer ice layer, lies an ocean of liquid water bustling with chemical activity.
Previous investigations suggested the presence of simple molecules like carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and ammonia (NH3) in these waters. Recent data analysis now suggests the existence of more complex substances in the atmosphere of Enceladus, sparking the hopes of scientists that the presence of organic molecules, such as carbon compounds, may indicate the potential presence of some forms of life within this enigmatic dark ocean.
Despite the ocean being beneath many kilometers of ice, its waters can be sampled through a “geyser” – a jet of water that erupts into space from the moon’s south polar region. The Cassini spacecraft, which diligently studied Saturn, its rings, and its moons for 13 years until its mission concluded in 2017, took advantage of this phenomenon.The spacecraft ventured through the vapor plume, collected samples, and meticulously analyzed their composition using a mass spectrometer, a device that measures the mass and electric charge of particles to determine chemical composition.
This is how the simple molecules mentioned earlier were found, which alongside water molecules (H2O) constituted the majority of the sample’s content.Now, several years after the spacecraft’s deliberate crash, researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California decided to re-examine the spectrometer data, employing sophisticated mathematical techniques for a more detailed analysis. Their objective was to uncover the chemical signatures of less common molecules within the samples.
