'Ingredients for Life' Present on Saturn's Moon Enceladus, Say Scientists

'Ingredients for Life' Present on Saturn's Moon Enceladus, Say Scientists

www.sciencedaily.com

Some of 'the major ingredients for life' are present on one of Saturn's moons, according to University College London scientists.

(visit the link for the full news article)

enceladus has been one of the promising moons for quite some time with cassini's fly-bys bringing back valuable data. Now, coming on the back of the Royal society's conference on ET life, this announcement on Saturn's moon.

MSSL's Professor Andrew Coates, lead author of a paper on the latest discovery, said: "While it's no surprise that there is water there, these short-lived ions are extra evidence for sub-surface water and where there's water, carbon and energy, some of the major ingredients for life are present.

The surprise for us was to look at the mass of these ions. There were several peaks in the spectrum, and when we analysed them we saw the effect of water molecules clustering together one after the other."

the negative water ions are generally found in moving bodies of water such as waterfalls and waves etc. It bodes well for NASA's next mission to Enceladus that they have already begun planning on.


www.sciencedaily.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Seems to be ingredients for life in a lot of places in our solar system alone. Do the math and you will see it is improbable for there not to be other conscious life in the universe.

Here is an article from New Scientist on the planned or possible expeditions to explore Enceladus and some of the other promising moons.

Extraterrestrial rafting: Hunting off-world sea life

While looping round Saturn, TSSM will also visit tiny Enceladus (pictured). This moon, which is believed to have a rocky core wrapped in a thick ice coat, stunned planetary scientists when they found a giant plume of water and ice blasting out from its south pole. "This icy moon is spitting its guts out," says Athena Coustenis, head of the European half of the TSSM mission.

The great tragedy is, after so many decades, we've discovered signs of life in the Saturn system, Europe (Jupiter moon) and potentially Mars - but, alas, humans have not even ventured out to investigate.

The human civilization is philistine in nature and practice, Obama's privatization of NASA highlights his scorn and distaste on the organisation and the scientific community.

[edit on 10-2-2010 by infinite]