Phosphorus, a key component of DNA and RNA molecules, has been found in the oceans of Saturn's satellite. It is now known that Enceladus has all the basic elements that make up biomolecules - everything necessary for the emergence of life.
Enceladus is one of the larger satellites of Saturn. Its surface is covered by a thick layer of ice, whose fractures occasionally produce geysers, which indicate that there is a fairly vast ocean of liquid water deep down there. This makes Enceladus one of the most promising places to look for extraterrestrial life. An analysis of its water also points to this possibility. It detects both methane and more complex organic molecules.
Over the years of research, compounds of hydrogen and oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and sulfur - almost all ingredients that make up biomolecules - have been found in Enceladus geysers. And recently the last element has been added to this list, phosphorus, which serves as a key component of nucleic acids. This was reported by Yasuhito Sekine, who spoke at a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Society (AGU) in Chicago.
Sekine and his colleagues at Tokyo Institute of Technology used data from the Cassini probe. Working in the Saturn system, the device collected information about the chemical composition not only of the planet and satellites, but also of its glittering rings. In this case, the scientists were interested in the substances of the E ring, where the substance ejected by the geysers of Enceladus gets. Among them were found particles extremely rich in sodium phosphate.
Judging by their number, the subglacial ocean on the satellite may contain this substance in concentrations from one to 20 millimoles, which is orders of magnitude greater than in the oceans of Earth, where phosphorus - the element is extremely scarce and in demand. The authors of the work suggest that on Enceladus it enters the water from the bottom, when dissolved in its apatites, which are found in abundance in some meteorites, and therefore - were present in the early solar system, when the satellite formed.
The finding makes Enceladus an even more interesting and promising place in terms of finding traces of extraterrestrial life. Perhaps this will accelerate work on such projects, including the ESA mission, so far scheduled for launch only after 2035.
