Enceladus’s ice plumes could concentrate traces of life, if it exists there

Freie Universität Berlin describes two studies in Science Advances exploring the potential for life on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

One used Cassini data, laboratory experiments and models to show how slowly freezing ocean droplets separate salts and organic material. The frozen droplets can then shatter into tiny ice grains. If microbial material were present, this process could concentrate it in some grains, making signs of life easier for future spacecraft to detect.

The other study found that a methane-producing Earth microbe grew under simulated Enceladus ocean conditions, despite high alkalinity and scarce carbon dioxide. It produced methane using hydrogen generated by water-rock reactions. As the university notes, these findings do not mean that life exists on Enceladus.