Canadian astrobiologists from the University of Western Ontario believe that the subglacial ocean on Saturn’s largest moon Titan is almost certainly deserted and uninhabitable. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Astrobiology.
“Unfortunately, we will now have to be a little less optimistic when searching for extraterrestrial life forms in our solar system. “The scientific community is excited about the possibility of finding organisms on icy moons, but this may not be as likely as we had hoped,” said Professor Katherine Naish, lead author of the study.
The team estimated the amount of organic molecules that could travel from Titan’s organic-rich icy surface to its subglacial ocean, which stores 12 times more water than all the oceans on Earth combined.
Organic compounds are mixed into water by comets that regularly hit Saturn’s moon. Calculations have shown that in this way no more than 7.5 tons of glycine, the simplest amino acid that forms proteins in the body, enters the Titan ocean every year.
According to scientists, 7.5 tons of glycine per year in a volume of water 12 times the size of Earth’s oceans is too little to support life.
The remaining icy moons in the solar system are likely uninhabited, although they also have oceans, astrobiologists noted.
Previous scientists to create There are signs of an ocean on Saturn’s other moon, Mimas.