Is life possible on some moons of Uranus?
Science: Over the past few years, planetary scientists have been seeking a mission to a largely unexplored region of the solar system: Uranus and its moons. Planetary scientists know that some moons of Jupiter and Saturn probably have liquid-water oceans beneath the surface. These “ocean worlds,” such as Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, are not in the “Goldilocks zone” — the optimal distance from a star where liquid water could exist on a world’s surface — previously thought to be a requirement for habitability. Instead, researchers are considering the possibility that life could exist inside these bodies, suspended in heated internal oceans through a variety of mechanisms.
These hypothetical life-forms could use chemical metabolic pathways similar to those used by life on Earth’s ocean floor. Increasingly, the astrobiology community is looking beyond the Jupiter and Saturn systems. They are seeking a mission to Uranus and its moons, as several of Uranus’ moons have displayed clear signs of having internal liquid oceans and chemical compositions that could be favorable for life. In fact, sending a spacecraft to these distant moons could provide clues about their habitability and the mechanisms behind the formation and evolution of these worlds, planetary scientists explained in a recent paper.
“The most exciting possibility on the (Uranian) moons is that they may still currently host subsurface oceans. This is less likely for some of them, so if the mission finds oceans on all/most of them, it will help better understand what mechanisms help keep the interiors of these moons warm,” says Julie Castillo-Rogez, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
