CNN —A key chemical building block of life has been found on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. An ocean exists beneath the thick, icy surface of Enceladus, and plumes of material regularly release from geysers at the moon’s south pole. “Previous geochemical models were divided on the question of whether Enceladus’ ocean contains significant quantities of phosphates at all,” Postberg said. “This key ingredient could be abundant enough to potentially support life in Enceladus’ ocean; this is a stunning discovery for astrobiology.”Some of the additional ocean world moons around Jupiter and Saturn include Europa, Titan and Ganymede. Although the building blocks of life and conditions for habitability exist on Enceladus, no actual life has been detected yet.

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Persons: ”, Frank Postberg, ” Postberg, Fabian Klenner, “, Postberg, Christopher Glein, Cassini, Linda Spilker, Spilker, ” Spilker, ” Glein, ” “, Nozair Khawaja, Mikhail Zolotov, Zolotov Organizations: CNN, Cassini, NASA, JPL, Space Science, Freie Universität, ATP, University of Washington, Southwest Research Institute, Clipper, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Freie Universität Berlin, Arizona State University Locations: Freie Universität Berlin, San Antonio , Texas, Europa, Pasadena , California