Scientists trying to work out whether life could survive on one of Saturn’s moons have recreated its hidden ocean in a laboratory.
Then they put life in it and it survived.
Researchers in Germany simulated conditions believed to exist beneath the frozen surface of Enceladus, a small icy moon that has become one of the most promising places to search for life beyond Earth.
The team used water, salts, carbonates and powdered rock to mimic the moon’s highly alkaline ocean and reactions taking place between water and its rocky seafloor.
They then introduced Methanothermococcus okinawensis, a microorganism normally found around deep-sea hydrothermal vents on Earth.
Despite conditions far harsher than those it usually encounters, the microbe grew.
That matters because Enceladus already has several things scientists look for when assessing whether another world could support life.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft found evidence of a vast saltwater ocean beneath its ice, organic compounds and hydrogen. Scientists also believe hydrothermal activity occurs on the ocean floor.
Even better, Enceladus effectively delivers samples of that ocean into space.
Huge plumes erupt through cracks near its south pole, throwing water vapour and ice grains hundreds of kilometres above the surface. Cassini flew through those plumes and analysed them.
A separate new study found that the freezing process behind those ice grains can concentrate different ocean materials into particular particles.
If microbes or pieces of them exist below, that could make their biological signatures easier for a future spacecraft to find.
None of this proves Enceladus has alien life.
The experiment used an organism that evolved on Earth and researchers don’t know whether life ever emerged independently inside the distant moon.
2026-09-29 00:36:00
