Researchers believe that oceans of liquid water exist beneath the surface of some of the moons of Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, and that alien life forms may exist there.
For the past two years, scientists have urged NASA and other space agencies to send a research mission to the moons of Uranus. It is already known that some moons of Jupiter and Saturn contain oceans of liquid water where alien life could exist.
The authors of a new paper published in the journal Astrobiology claim that some of Uranus’s moons may also harbor oceans and could be habitable.
They propose that alien life forms may use chemical metabolic reactions to survive, similar to those used by certain organisms found on Earth’s ocean floor. The authors also call for urgently sending a spacecraft to the moons of Uranus to determine their habitability. Room.
Scientists have found clear signs of underground oceans containing liquid water on some of Uranus’ moons, with a chemical composition that could support the development of life. Sending a spacecraft there could help determine whether these worlds are habitable and reveal the mechanisms underlying their evolution. In particular, it is essential to investigate what processes help retain heat in the moons of Uranus, which are far from the Sun.
Researchers have reanalyzed data collected by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which flew past Uranus in 1986. At the time, data was collected on the five largest moons of Uranus: Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon and Miranda.
The data was combined with computer simulations that took into account the size and density of the moons, suggesting that Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon may contain internal oceans of liquid water located between their cores and icy surfaces.
Due to their distance from the sun, liquid water in the moons cannot remain in that state for long. However, scientists believe that internal heat generated by the decay of radioactive elements, especially potassium, uranium and thorium, maintains these oceans in liquid form.
There is evidence that Miranda and Ariel experienced geological activity between 100 million and 1 billion years ago. This, together with the gravitational influence of Uranus, may have caused the satellites to heat up internally.
Unfortunately, the same level of heating that keeps the moons of Jupiter and Saturn warm is not possible for the moons of Uranus, because Uranus exerts a weaker gravitational pull due to its smaller mass. However, scientists believe that there is enough heat in the moons, at least due to geological activity and radioactive decay.
According to the paper’s authors, a future mission to the moons of Uranus could study their internal thermal conditions, which play a crucial role in the potential for life as we know it.
On Earth, single-celled organisms can thrive in temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius. Below that threshold, the metabolic processes required to obtain energy from the environment become increasingly complex.
The five large moons of Uranus have temperatures ranging from minus 213 degrees Celsius to minus 193 degrees Celsius, indicating that interior temperatures would have to be significantly higher to make these worlds habitable.
We also need to determine the salinity of the subsurface oceans. If they are too salty, alien life may not be able to survive.
Because potential life on Uranus’ moons does not have access to solar energy, a constant source of chemical energy would be needed. Organisms on Earth’s ocean floor use a form of chemosynthesis, harnessing energy from inorganic chemical reactions to produce food. A similar process may be essential for life deep in Uranus’ moons.
Finally, we need to confirm whether the subsurface oceans contain the building blocks of life, including elements such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur.
