Inner complexity in Saturn moon 'Enceladus' hints at habitable conditions

A team of the Southwest Research Institute has developed a new geochemical model, that reveals that carbon dioxide from within Enceladus, an ocean-harbouring moon of Saturn, may be controlled by chemical reactions at its seafloor. SwRI's Dr. Christopher Glein, lead author of a paper in Geophysical Research Letters outlining the research said: "By understanding the composition of the plume, we can learn about what the ocean is like, how it got to be this way and whether it provides environments where life as we know it could survive," He further said: "We came up with a new technique for analyzing the plume composition to estimate the concentration of dissolved CO2 in the ocean. SwRI's Dr. Hunter Waite, principal investigator of Cassini's Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer said that "The dynamic interface of a complex core and seawater could potentially create energy sources that might support life." "While we have not found evidence of the presence of microbial life in the ocean of Enceladus, the growing evidence for chemical disequilibrium offers a tantalizing hint that habitable conditions could exist beneath the moon's icy crust." Talking of the model they have suggested with, Glein said: "This model could explain how planetary differentiation and alteration processes create chemical gradients needed by subsurface life."