Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Reveal Life’s Chemical Building Blocks

In October 2025, researchers reanalysing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft discovered new organic molecules in the icy plumes erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

  • These carbon-based compounds are vital ingredients for life, suggesting that the moon’s hidden ocean could support the same kinds of chemical processes that once sparked life on early Earth.

What makes Enceladus special?

  • Enceladus, roughly the size of Arizona, is covered in a bright, icy crust that conceals a global ocean of liquid water.
  • Through fractures near its south pole, Enceladus releases plumes of water vapour and ice, providing scientists with direct samples from beneath its frozen surface.
  • Because it ....
Do You Want to Read More?
Subscribe Now

To get access to detailed content

Already a Member? Login here


Take Annual Subscription and get the following Advantage
The annual members of the Civil Services Chronicle can read the monthly content of the magazine as well as the Chronicle magazine archives.
Readers can study all the material before the last six months of the Civil Services Chronicle monthly issue in the form of Chronicle magazine archives.

Related Content