Scientists have suggested the existence of life in the ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus

Scientists using computing systems from the Texas Center for Advanced Computing (TACC) conducted a large—scale simulation of the activity of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The results confirmed that there is an ocean of liquid water beneath its frozen surface, where conditions suitable for life may exist. This was reported on November 10 by Science Daily magazine.

The study, led by Arnaud Maillet, senior researcher at the Royal Belgian Institute of Space Aeronomy and a branch of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, is based on data from the Cassini mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which observed geysers in 2005 that emit water vapor and ice particles from the surface of the satellite.

This study has clarified estimates of the volume of ice carried by Enceladus into space. The results, as specified, help plan future research using robotic devices and enhance understanding of conditions under the surface of the satellite that may be suitable for life. According to Maye, the velocity of the mass flow from Enceladus is 20-40% lower than that found in the scientific literature.

The researchers applied the direct statistical modeling (DSMC) method, which describes the movement and collision of gas molecules in real time. This technology has made it possible to calculate the density, velocity, and temperature of emissions from Enceladus' hundreds of cryovolcanic sources.

"DSMC modeling is very expensive. In 2015, we used TACC supercomputers to obtain parameterization, which reduced the computing time from 48 hours back then to several milliseconds now," added Maye.

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He clarified that the main conclusion of the study is that for 100 cryptovolcanic sources, it was possible to determine restrictions on mass consumption and other parameters that had not been obtained before. Maye called it a big step forward in understanding what is happening on Enceladus.

David Goldstein, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and co-author of the study, added that TACC's computing resources made it possible to reproduce the behavior of millions of molecules with high accuracy.

Enceladus, which has a diameter of about 500 km, has a weak gravity, so some of the ejected ice goes into space, forming a thin ring of Saturn. According to Maye, Enceladus' geysers open a window into the underground ocean, where biochemical processes can exist.

NASA and the European Space Agency are already developing new missions that will not just fly by, but land on the surface and take samples from under the ice layer. The analysis of emissions may provide an answer to the question of the existence of life in the ocean of Enceladus.

"Supercomputers can give us answers to questions that we could not even have dreamed of 10-15 years ago. Now we can get much closer to modeling what is happening in nature," concluded Maye.

Earlier, on November 8, New Atlas magazine reported that scientists had solved the mystery of rain on the surface of the Sun. According to the publication, this phenomenon occurs due to the formation of cold and dense clumps in the Sun's corona, which condense high above the surface and fall back.

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