An alien moon that is 'coming of age' produces life

The team from NASA confirmed one of the most beautiful and mysterious moons of the solar system that is entering an era of maturity, ready to start producing life.

At the Biological Science Conference, which took place in Washington (USA), scientist Marc Neveu from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center confirmed his research and his colleagues calculated the age of the moon Enceladus and learned. that it is entering the perfect age to create life.

Cassini flies in the sky full of Enceladus's "life breath" - (graphic image from NASA).

In the paper published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy, the authors said they used the huge data set collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during the 13 years of flying around Saturn and spying on the faces. its moon.

A total of 31 moons of this giant planet were discovered, in which some moons became a major target for NASA in the search for life, including Titan, Enceladus, Dione .

This new study swirled into Enceladus, a beautiful ice moon and each hit by Cassini with steam currents carrying complex and carbon-rich organic molecules.

Moon Enceladus - (photo: NASA).

These data help NASA believe that under Enceladus' icy surface is the vast ocean possessing bottom hydrothermal vents like Hawaii or Antarctica, where the depth of life is concentrated. This ocean is rich in chemical energy sources and essential life elements such as carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen.

According to Neveu, in order to have life, these wonderful conditions need to be combined with the appropriate age of the celestial body. As our earth has no life right from birth."If an ocean is too young, only a few million years old, there won't be enough time to mix the components together and activate the chain of life-creating reactions , " he said.

On the other hand, if the ocean is too old, the celestial body will be like a dry battery, unable to generate energy for the chemical reactions needed to sustain life.

Scientists tested about 50 simulation models and calculated Enceladus's ocean about 1 billion years old, a few hundred million years older than the Earth when it began to produce life. They even expect this age to be enough for life to be born long enough and spread enough so that human tools can be found.

This study and similar works prepare for future NASA survey missions.

• 50 images of Saturn's Enceladus moon - where life can exist (Part 1)
• 50 images of Saturn's Enceladus moon - where life can exist (Part 2)