The moon Enceladus shoots a huge plume of its ocean into space.

Planetary scientists believe it could be habitable, meaning that this ocean could potentially contain life-sustaining conditions. Now, new research suggests that this Saturn moon’s water contains a bounty of building blocks important to life (as we know it, anyway). Phosphorus is an important component of genetic and cellular material. It is her second most abundant mineral in our body.

“We have found evidence that one of the key elements required for life on Earth is abundant in Enceladus’ oceans,” said Christopher Glein, senior scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, a research and development organization.

“This shows that Enceladus is more habitable than previously thought,” added Grain, who studies the geology of other worlds. This study, which simulated how minerals dissolve in lunar oceans and allowed researchers to estimate the amount of phosphorus on Enceladus, recently Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The data for this study came from the legendary NASA mission in 2008, when NASA’s legendary Cassini spacecraft dived through jets of icy water vapor, gas, and organic matter blown from the south pole of Enceladus. that’s what i got. A moon as wide as Arizona soon became a source of intense conspiracy. “The discovery of Enceladus changed the course of planetary science,” Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker said in her statement. “Planetary scientists are now considering Enceladus as a habitat for life,” she added.

“As we know, phosphorus plays an important role in life.”

But Cassini’s brief plunge into the moon’s plume didn’t capture all of the ocean. Previous studies also concluded that Enceladus’ oceans were poorly phosphorus-rich.

However, this latest study used updated, more detailed computer simulations of how Enceladus’ rocky seafloor geology interacts with a saline ocean. Of course, scientists don’t have a first-hand sample of Enceladus’ core. That would require an unprecedented robotic mission to land on the faraway moon. Researchers have clues from abundant meteorites on Earth and other extraterrestrial rocks that provide compelling clues as to what the rocky places in our solar system are made up of. .

“We don’t know exactly what the rocky core of Enceladus is made of, but we can make a good guess based on what has been found elsewhere in the solar system,” says Wheaton University’s Planetary Science. Scientist Jeff Collins, who had no role, said: In his research, he told Mashable. Collins also pointed out that Chinese scientists have discovered new phosphate minerals on the moon.

Taken together, Glein and his research team are confident they know what is melting in Enceladus’ oceans. And it’s full of phosphorus. “As we know, phosphorus plays an important role in life,” he stressed.

A diagram showing how phosphorus melts into the sea of ​​Enceladus.
Credit: SwRI

Ice and water vapor erupting from the south pole of Enceladus.
Credit: NASA

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Enceladus orbits deep in the solar system about 800 million miles from Earth. So, in the near future, planetary scientists will comb through the data collected by the Cassini spacecraft (when it explored Saturn and its moons) to speculate on what this alien ocean might actually look like. need to do it. “I hope you will continue to study the data from Cassini,” Grine said, adding that the study is another step in the long-term scrutiny of this fascinating moon.

Someday, perhaps in the late 2040s or 2050s, a space agency like NASA may send a probe to land on Enceladus. By simply visiting the moon’s south pole and directly sampling the snow that falls from the ice plume, researchers can gain unprecedented insight into what’s happening in the ocean below. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recently proposed in a seminal planning document that a rover land on Enceladus. (NASA already plans to send an orbiter to Jupiter’s moon Europa in 2024 to “see if the icy moons have the right conditions for life.”)

Going to Enceladus is decades away. But it’s planetary science.

“People wait their entire careers to answer these deep questions,” says Glein. “You must have enough patience.”