By Kevin You
Recently, NASA announced that Enceladus, a moon orbiting Saturn, has almost all of the qualifications needed to support life on Earth. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft detected hydrogen molecules in the geysers on Enceladus. Potentially the result of deep-sea chemical reactions between water and rock, these hydrogen molecules could spark microbial life. Cassini has been orbiting Saturn for more than a decade and uncovered the hydrogen molecules when it dove through Saturn’s plumes of vapor and particles during its final close flyby of Enceladus in 2015. This is a monumental discovery, as an tiny, ice-encrusted ocean world is now being scrutinized more carefully than ever before as a candidate for life sustainability.
