NASA Surprises Americans With Amazing News

NASA Astronaut on the moonPhoto byUnsplashonUnsplash

NASA recently made a huge announcement to the American people. A major building block for life, Phosphorus, has been found in icy grains emitted by one of Saturn's moons - Enceladus.

Phosphorus, the least abundant of the essential elements required for biological processes, had previously gone undetected on Enceladus. The element is found in the bones of mammals, cell membranes, and ocean-dwelling plankton. It's also a building block for DNA, which forms chromosomes and carries genetic information. Phosphorus is also an essential component of the energy-carrying molecules found in all forms of life on Earth. Without it, life would be impossible, per NASA.

“We previously found that Enceladus’ ocean is rich in a variety of organic compounds,” said Frank Postberg, a planetary scientist. “But now, this new result reveals the clear chemical signature of substantial amounts of phosphorus salts inside icy particles ejected into space by the small moon’s plume. It’s the first time this essential element has been discovered in an ocean beyond Earth.”

“High phosphate concentrations are a result of interactions between carbonate-rich liquid water and rocky minerals on Enceladus’ ocean floor and may also occur on a number of other ocean worlds,” said Christopher Glein, a planetary scientist and geochemist at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “This key ingredient could be abundant enough to potentially support life in Enceladus’ ocean; this is a stunning discovery for astrobiology.”

Enceladus’ ice grains also contain concentrations of sodium, potassium, chlorine, and carbonate-containing compounds, according to previous analysis by NASA scientists. Computer modeling by NASA also suggests the subsurface ocean is of moderate alkalinity – all factors that favor habitable conditions.

It's theoretically possible that some form of life may exist on Enceladus, according to NASA. However, it will likely be several years before confirmation of extraterrestrial life is confirmed.

“This latest discovery of phosphorus in Enceladus’ subsurface ocean has set the stage for what the habitability potential might be for the other icy ocean worlds throughout the solar system,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who was not involved in the study. “Now that we know so many of the ingredients for life are out there, the question becomes: Is there life beyond Earth, perhaps in our own solar system? I feel that Cassini’s enduring legacy will inspire future missions that might, eventually, answer that very question."

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