Saturn ’s moon Enceladus has looked like a tantalizing possibility for life in the Solar System for quite some time . Now , we may have identified something that can inhabit there and explain why we found methane in its feather .
Published inNature Communications , a study led by the University of Vienna describes a special microbe determine in the deep sea near Japan calledMethanothermococcus okinawensisthat could survive the temperature , pressure , and chemical make - up of the ocean hiding under the icy surface of Enceladus .
They say this microbe paint a picture that methane notice in the plumes of Enceladus by NASA ’s Cassini space vehicle could be produce by microbic life , specifically methanogen – those that produce methane . And a future mission may be able to spot the biosignatures from such being hiding in itspossibly warmocean .
“ Some of the methane observe on Enceladus could in principle be of biologic inception , ” Dr Simon Rittman from the University of Vienna , the subject field ’s corresponding source , told IFLScience .
“ We are the first one to investigate whether microorganisms could possibly farm methane under these conditions . ”
In their study , the team investigate three micro-organism in the laboratory to see if they could survive condition on Enceladus and produce methane . This includes pressure of up to 90 bars ( sea spirit level pressure on Earth is about 1 bar ) , and temperatures as low as 0 ° C ( 32 ° farad ) but as high as 100 ° C ( 212 ° F ) – if hydrothermal vent live on the sea floor , as omen .
The team perform the experimentation in flaskful 20ml in size , with a liquidness inside composed of inorganic compounds . They added the microbes to the mixture , along with H and carbon copy dioxide – ply both food and energy , as expected on Enceladus .
Of their three microbes , they discover that onlyM. okinawensiswas able to outlive the interchange conditions . This germ hail from theArchaea familyand is found near hydrothermal vents in the Iheya rooftree , near the Japanese island of Okinawa . The fact it survived showed that it ’s possible for microbes like this ( there could be many others ) to survive on Enceladus .
“ Our experiments show that under these conditions , as close as we can infer from the Cassini investigation , this organism produces methane , ” said Dr Rittman . “ Hydrothermal vent systems would be the ideal home ground for the organism we studied . ”
With the Cassini commission come to an end inSeptember 2017 , NASA is now investigating the possibility of sending anew missionto Enceladus at some point in the next decade or two . marriage offer have included thing like the Enceladus Life Finder ( ELF )
To further serve the question of life on Enceladus , a succeeding deputation will need an advanced mass mass spectrometer – which can psychoanalyze the chemical science of the plume – to detect possible biosignatures . It will ask to be about five prison term as sinewy as the one that flew on Cassini , able to detect lipid , proteins and amino acids from any extant life sentence .
This subject is not definitive test copy that Enceladus is inhabitable . selective information on Enceladus , and in particular its subsurface ocean , is passing limited . But based on available data , it ’s the best estimation we can make so far .
“ The condition simulated in the laboratory may not necessarily oppose those of the ulterior water supply sea on Enceladus , which is based on extrapolations derived from the Cassini data , ” Christa Schleper , head of the department Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics at the University of Vienna and a cobalt - author on the survey in a financial statement .
The study also highlights that , if it is possible for such life to survive on Enceladus , then we must be exceedingly heedful about contaminating the moon . If Earth - base microbes were to hitch a ride on a future spacecraft and make it to the surface , it ’s potential they could provide false readings of alien life in future .
Many query about Enceladus remain obscure , including whether it even has enough muscularity to support organisms . But this cogitation read that , if it does have the veracious conditions , then it might just be a bastion for life sentence outside Earth .
