NASA's Cassini spacecraft has flown through the plumes of water vapor spewing out from the ocean inside Saturn's moon Enceladus on multiple occasions, which has allowed researchers to determine the pH of the water, which is highly alkaline. From this, they have been able to predict the entire mineralogical composition of the ocean, finding that it has both good and bad points for any potential microbial life that may exist within it.
"It's harder, but certainly not impossible, to live in these conditions," Christopher Glein, an ocean worlds scientist at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio told Space.com.
