NASA announces Enceladus could support life

[Robert]

All of the necessary things to support life have been found on one of the moons that orbits Saturn.

Enceladus has chemicals that when found on Earth tend to indicate life, suggesting that there might be living things under its icy shell.

Scientists have long thought of Enceladus as one of the prime candidates for life within our solar system, in large part because of its subsurface ocean that covers its entire body. But the new research gives the best look yet at that moon, showing that it has a chemical energy source capable of supporting life.

The new findings came from the Cassini spacecraft, which flew through a huge plume of water that was being shot out of the surface of Enceladus. As it did, the spacecraft took readings of the water and sent them back to Earth for further study.

That study found evidence of molecular hydrogen in those jets of vapour. That molecular hydrogen could only plausibly have come from hydrothermal reactions between hot rocks and water underneath the moon’s icy crust, the researchers claim.

Of course, it's NASA so, you know, probably a big hoax on behalf of China....