Cassini finds building blocks of life in our own solar system, on Saturn's moon Titan

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Cassini is conducting the grand finale before it plunges to its death, which will see it plunge into the surface of Saturn and destroy itself, ensuring that it can't spread life around our solar system. "We have made the first unambiguous identification of carbon chain anions in a planet-like atmosphere, which we believe are a vital stepping-stone in the production line of growing bigger, and more complex organic molecules, such as the moon's large haze particles," said Ravi Desai, study lead author and PhD student at UCL. "These inspiring results from Cassini show the importance of tracing the journey from small to large chemical species in order to understand how complex organic molecules are produced in an early Earth-like atmosphere," added Dr Nicolas Altobelli, ESA's Cassini project scientist. "While we haven't detected life itself, finding complex organics not just at Titan, but also in comets and throughout the interstellar medium, we are certainly coming close to finding its precursors."