An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the discovery of phosphorus, a key element for many biological processes, on Enceladus, the moon of the planet Saturn which has an underground ocean of liquid water. A team of researchers led by Frank Postberg of the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, analyzed data collected by the Cassini space probe made available in the Planetary Data System and in particular the data detected by the Cosmic Dust Analyzer instrument in samples of icy particles emitted by the geysers of Enceladus that arrived in one of Saturn’s rings.

The result of the analysis was the discovery of phosphates in concentrations at least one hundred times higher than those of the Earth’s oceans. Geochemical models suggest that phosphorus may be present in subsurface oceans of other moons. These discoveries increase the probability that life forms have arisen in the subsurface of some of those moons.