But what is the science behind extraterrestrial life? Is it possible that humans will ever experience "first contact" with an ...

The discovery of water ice around a distant star is allowing scientists to study how the key ingredient for life is delivered ...

A Europa Lander prototype was just successfully field tested on Alaska's Matanuska Glacier to simulate the icy conditions of ...

If you were to ask scientists where life exists beyond Earth, they would correctly tell you that we do not know. There is so much that we do not understand about life on Earth, let alone about where ...

Astronomers have long been intrigued by the makeup of the asteroid belt’s largest body. When it was first spotted in 1801, ...

Saturn's ocean moon Enceladus could support life—researchers are working out how to detect extraterrestrial cells there Apr 17, 2024 Key building block for life found at Saturn's moon Enceladus ...

Saturn is orbited by 146 moons, with Enceladus being the sixth largest at approximately 500km in diameter. This small, icy moon is characterized by its highly reflective white surface and geyser ...

You need more than water to support life, and a recent model suggests that Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus could have the right stuff. What’s New — You need phosphorus to build a cell.

Here’s how it works. Saturn's moon Enceladus has a secret lurking beneath its icy outer crust. In the plumes of vapor jetting from its surface, scientists have detected a molecule that might be ...

Scientists have long viewed Saturn’s moon Enceladus, which harbors an ocean beneath its thick, icy shell, as one of the best places to search for life beyond Earth. Now, a new analysis of data ...

Much of what we know about Enceladus so far came from the Saturn probe Cassini, which was launched in 1997. Cassini entered Saturn's atmosphere in 2017 and completed its mission, but scientists ...

The rarest element critical to life as we know it, phosphorus, has for the first time been discovered in an ocean beyond Earth, spewed out from Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. The vital element helps ...