High concentrations of phosphorus, an essential element for all biological processes on Earth, have been detected in ice crystals spewed from the interior ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus, adding to its potential to harbour life, researchers reported on Wednesday.
The discovery was based on data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, the first to orbit Saturn, during its 13-year landmark exploration of the gaseous giant planet, its rings and its moons from 2004 to 2017.
The findings were published by a German-led international team of scientists in the journal Nature and announced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) outside of Los Angeles, which designed and built the Cassini probe.
