

“Our results indicate the same chemical energy source is present in the ocean of Enceladus. Hunter Waite, principal investigator of Cassini’s Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS). “Hydrogen is a source of chemical energy for microbes that live in the Earth’s oceans near hydrothermal vents,” said SwRI’s Dr. And Enceladus appears to have molecular hydrogen in its ice plumes, suggesting the existence of hydrothermal vents. Scientists with NASA’s Cassini mission determined that the plume they found was favorable to methanogenesis, which is when microbes gobble up hydrogen and carbon and then emit methane.

While it’s not likely to host sentient life, Enceladus could host some form of microbial alien life, and that alone would be a tremendous breakthrough. Scientists have found hydrothermal vents on the moon Enceladus, the same kind of hydrothermal vents found here on Earth and which scientists believe were the breeding grounds of life on our planet.Įnceladus is a frozen wasteland, but deep underneath its icy crusts are subterranean oceans. NASA scientists have just stumbled upon something big on a moon that orbits Saturn, and it could result in a huge breakthrough in our search for alien life. Brown A mysterious moon orbiting Saturn could hold the key to the question of whether alien life exists in our solar system.
