Scientists have found perhaps the most promising indication yet that life does exist on Enceladus, Saturn’s sixth-largest moon.
Data gathered by NASA’s retired Cassini spacecraft reveals the presence of phosphates – a key element for the existence of life – on the moon.
Crucially, the phosphates are not trapped in rocky minerals but dissolved in the moon’s liquid water ocean as salt, the scientists say.
It’s already known that Enceladus has long, snake-like fractures on its icy surface that eject