Could There Have Been Life On Saturn?

Scientists said that Saturn moon’s hidden sea 'could harbor life.'

12:53 12 March 2015

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has found grains of rocks providing proof of hydrothermal activity in Saturn. In Earth’s oceans, such activity produces chemicals that harbor life. 

 

Lead scientist Dr Sean Hsu from the University of Colorado, said: "It’s very exciting that we can use these tiny grains of rocks, spewed into space by geysers, to tell us about conditions on - and beneath - the ocean floor of an icy moon.” 

 

Meanwhile, Enceladus, the sixth-largest moons of Saturn, is believed to have a deep ocean beneath an ice crust between 19 and 25 miles thick. The Cassini probe has analysed emissions from the planet and detected silica gains, the same mineral found on Earth in quartz and sand. 

 

Scientists writing in the journal Nature say they are likely to be from the moon's hidden ocean.

 

Cassini scientist Dr Frank Postberg, co-author of the research, said: "We methodically searched for alternate explanations for the nano-silica grains, but every new result pointed to a single, most likely origin."

 

The Cassini probe has been orbiting and analyzing Saturn since June 2004. It was launched from Cape Canaveral in 1997.