Hope for finding life on the moons of Saturn not looking good

quote:

---

subsurface ocean of Titan

---

quote:

---

any hope of finding life in the icy world is dead in the water

---

quote:

---

Scientists have known that the giant plume of ice grains and water vapor spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus is rich with organic compounds, some of which are important for life as we know it. Now, scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini mission are taking the evidence for habitability a step further: They’ve found strong confirmation of hydrogen cyanide, a molecule that is key to the origin of life.

The researchers also uncovered evidence that the ocean, which is hiding below the moon’s icy outer shell and supplies the plume, holds a powerful source of chemical energy. Unidentified until now, the energy source is in the form of several organic compounds, some of which, on Earth, serve as fuel for organisms.

---

quote:

---

Well what is the discovery? Why is it uninhabitable?

---

quote:

---

In the study, published in the journal Astrobiology, Neish and her collaborators attempted to quantify the amount of organic molecules that could be transferred from Titan's organic-rich surface to its subsurface ocean, using data from impact cratering.

Comets impacting Titan throughout its history have melted the surface of the icy moon, creating pools of liquid water that have mixed with the surface organics. The resulting melt is denser than its icy crust, so the heavier water sinks through the ice, possibly all the way to Titan's subsurface ocean.

Using the assumed rates of impacts on Titan's surface, Neish and her collaborators determined how many comets of different sizes would strike Titan each year over its history. This allowed the researchers to predict the flow rate of water carrying organics that travel from Titan's surface to its interior.

Neish and the team found the weight of organics transferred in this way is quite small, no more than 7,500 kg/year of glycine—the simplest amino acid, which makes up proteins in life. This is approximately the same mass as a male African elephant. (All biomolecules, like glycine, use carbon—an element—as the backbone of their molecular structure.)

"One elephant per year of glycine into an ocean 12 times the volume of Earth's oceans is not sufficient to sustain life," said Neish. "In the past, people often assumed that water equals life, but they neglected the fact that life needs other elements, in particular carbon."

---

quote:

---

Everyone knows that Europe by Jupiter is where the action is . Did you not see 2010

---

quote:

---

"Unfortunately, we will now need to be a little less optimistic

---