The NASA spacecraft Cassini has discovered what could be a habitable ocean environment on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. Hunter Waite and others, the hydrogen gas could be a signature of a chemical process that is exploited by some of the most ancient life forms on Earth. In Earth’s oceans, water reacts with iron-bearing minerals in rocks to create hydrogen gas, which is then exploited by tiny organisms to make methane as an energy source. “The presence of H2 (hydrogen gas) in the plume of Enceladus could therefore suggest the occurrence of temperatures and chemical energy sources necessary for habitable conditions in the moon’s interior,” the paper reads. The spacecraft Cassini has been in Saturn’s orbit since 2004, and this research is almost its swansong.

Source: National Post April 13, 2017 17:15 UTC