Scientists have discovered
evidence of phosphorus in an ocean
not on earth.
The new study in the journal Nature
says the life
the setting element was found inside
salty ice grains
shot into space
from enchiladas,
one of the Saturn's moons.
It's not only is it
phosphorus
vital to all life on Earth,
but its existence supports
the idea of an ocean
beneath the icy surface of the moon
capable of supporting life.
Just because it's capable
of supporting life
does not mean that there is life.
The coauthor of the study says, quote,
The next step is clear.
We need to go
back to see if the habitable ocean
is actually inhabited.
Joining me now from San
Antonio, Texas, is Christopher
Glynn, planetary
scientist, geochemist
and coauthor of the study.
Thank you for being with us.
Now, John, I'm happy to be with you.
That's great.
I guess I'd better be free
to read headlines for you
about this discovery at the end of it.
Tell me which one best describes
what this is all about.
Okay.
From Space.com
First ever detection of phosphorus
shows that insulin's centralized.
I could get it wrong.
Has all the necessary
ingredients for life.
Okay. From The Independent.
Has this
made your finding on Saturn's moons
boost hopes
of finding alien life in our solar system
and then envious of the good folks
at the Daily Mail?
They ask, Are aliens
hiding on Saturn's moon?
Scientists discover phosphates
and say it could be a sign of life.
Those are the ingredients for life.
Increased chance of finding alien life
or the aliens are actually hiding
on Saturn's moon
Right.
So there's a lot to unpack there.
It's definitely an ingredient for life.
It's one of the big six elements
that life uses.
So it makes it environment
habitable, what scientists call it.
Those are the conditions
that can support life.
And if you have those conditions
that can support life,
that gives you
better odds of finding life.
But we cannot yet say that we know
or do not know if Enceladus has life.
So Saturn has what 146 minutes
at last count.
How is this discovery
made and television,
especially since
it wasn't really something
you were looking for, nor did you expect.
Right. There was.
We had a mission
there about ten years ago
named Cassini,
who did a lot of great science.
There were different models
suggesting that phosphorous
could be very rare or more abundant.
So we weren't really quite
sure what to expect.
And then over the past few years,
this team, as a part of led
by Frank Forsberg,
we started looking at the data
from the Cassini mission.
And we found the telltale
signs of phosphorus
contained
in the chemical data of material
that spewed out of Enceladus Ocean.
So The
York Times
sort of breaks down the importance
like this is kind of a good right.
They say phosphorus is a key ingredient
in human bones and teeth.
And scientists
say it's the rarest
bio essential ingredient in the cosmos.
Planetary researchers
had previously detected
the other five key elements on insulators
carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen,
oxygen and sulfur,
although they're a bit dodgy
on the cell phone plot right now.
If this potentially habitable
ocean was, in fact, inhabited
what sort of life form would be there?
What would it look like?
Right.
So we're a long way
from answering the question.
If it's inhabited,
we'll need a new mission to do that.
But from what we know from the data,
the kinds of life
that could be supported under
these conditions would be microbes.
So they could be organisms
that would be either
at the bottom of the ice sheet
near the surface
or they could be
at the bottom of Enceladus
Ocean at the seafloor,
perhaps next to what we think are
hydrothermal vents at the seafloor.
Those would be the kinds of environments
that are very dynamic
where a lot of ingredients
would be mixed in
and would be most favorable
for supporting life.
We have a thing here.
We like to play movie clips
whenever we do kind of,
you know, segments about space.
And in the movie Total Recall,
we should note that Saturn
apparently was a hot destination
of choice. What's this?
To be perfectly honest with you, Doug,
if outer space is your thing,
I think you would be much happier
with one of our Saturn cruises.
Everybody raves about them.
I'm not interested in seven.
I said, Moss
wants to go to Mars.
So
I guess it may be able to support life.
It doesn't seem capable of supporting
human life. That's right.
Well,
if we wanted to have humans go there
and I don't think
that would be our first step
into the solar system,
we would need
the kinds of life
supporting systems
like you need on other planetary bodies
where, you know, like
if we go to the moon or Mars,
we have to
have self-sustaining systems
to keep people alive.
But the fact there is water,
there is obviously something which can
then be used to sustain
some kind of human settlement.
Is that right?
It could be
the surface of Enceladus is frozen.
It's very bright water ice.
So there's a lot of water
that's available
there as ice on the surface
and then liquid water
down a few miles below the surface.
And that is actually our first step
into the universe. Right.
It will be on the moon, I guess.
But Chris,
thank you so much for being with us.
We really appreciate it.
Congratulations on your discovery
it's been described
as one of the biggest
in the last 25 years.
So well done.
Thank you, John.