Deep in our solar system, a new era of space exploration is unfolding.
Beneath the thick ice of Europa, in the vapor plumes on Enceladus,
and within the methane lakes of Titan, astrobiologists are on the hunt for extraterrestrial life.
We’ve honed in on these three moons because each is an ‘ocean world,’ an environment that contains a liquid ocean–
and liquid can support the formation of life. Living organisms have to be able to grow, reproduce, and feed themselves,
among other things. All of those functions require the formation of complex molecules
from more basic components. Liquids such as water allow chemical compounds to remain in suspension
instead of sinking under the force of gravity. This enables them to interact frequently in a 3-dimensional space and,
in the right conditions, go through chemical reactions that lead to the formation of living matter.
That alone isn’t enough; the small but complex biomolecules that we’re familiar with
