New molecules that give life in 17 -year -old data from Saturn’s Moon Encladus

The Encladus South Pole – Saturn is small around the moon – a volatile place. In this region, the surface ocean in the moon is spreading planes of water through four cracks of the “tiger bar” in the ice shell, and its peak in one pillars of ice molecules that extend hundreds of miles to space.

Cassini spacecraft spent two contracts studying these particles to search for evidence of the pledge on Encladus. In 2008, the investigation flew directly through the ice column to study the molecules that were removed just minutes from hitting the cosmic dust analyst in the spacecraft (CDA). After more than 15 years have passed, scientists have finally dismantled this data, and found that particles contain organic particles that they have never seen in Encladus Ejects before.

The study, published on Wednesday in the magazine Nature astronomyHe explains that the newly discovered molecules include that participation in chemical reactions chains that ultimately lead to more complex molecules necessary for life on Earth, according to researchers.

“There are many possible paths of organic molecules that we found in Cassini’s data to biologically relevant vehicles, which enhances the possibility that the moon is suitable for housing,” He said The main author Nozair Khawaja, researcher at Freie Universität Berlin, in a statement issued by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Searching for signs of prestige on Encladus

The surface ocean has been captured in Esellados astronomers since Cassini’s mission, a common endeavor between NASA, ESA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), first find out Evidence for this in 2014. Life as we know it cannot exist without water, so the moon that contains a wide reserve of things is a good place to search for life molecules.

Cassini revolves around Saturn from 2004 to 2017 by Drink dramatically on the cyclical planet. During this time, the investigation discovered many organic molecules – including Phosphorus and Sects for amino acids-It also flew through the Saturn E episode, which was largely manufactured from the water pocket out of Encladus.

However, ice granules in the E loop can be hundreds of years. With their age, they may lose some of the effects of organic molecules in the surface ocean in Encelados. To get a better understanding of what is already going there, Khawaja and his colleagues began analyzing the data taken from a tormented source.

Approaching the source

The researchers specifically looked at the data collected by Cassini during her invasion in the Icelados ice pole. The newly produced molecules in the CDA tool in the spacecraft were criticized at a high speed – 11 miles (18 km) per second.

The speed of influence has proven that it is equally important, as the freshness of the particles. “At low effect speeds, ice can destroy, and a sign of water molecules can be hidden from some organic molecules,” he explained. “But when CDA ice pills quickly strike, water molecules do not gather, and we have an opportunity to see these hidden signals previously.”

This would explain the reason for the discovery of him and his colleagues new organic particles in this data. They also discovered some already found in the E loop, confirming that they come from the Encladus perimeter. This contradicts modern evidence Suggest These molecules may actually stem from chemistry that depend on radiation on the surface of the moon and within their columns.

Although the results are enhancing the Ecsellados issue, there is still a lot of work that must be done to confirm whether this iceberg can support life. Esa the goal To launch another task to explore this distant moon, this time searching for signs of a pledge on the surface.

“Even not to find life on Ecsellados will be a great discovery, because it raises serious questions about the reason for the lack of life in such an environment when the right conditions are there,” said Khawaga.