ABSTRACT
Enceladus, a small icy satellite of Saturn, was found to have a subsurface water ocean and evidence of ongoing hydrothermal activity in the seafloor. The ocean water, sampled via a plume, was inferred to contain substantial levels of inorganic and organic carbon as well as ammonia. However, there are very few constraints on the availability of other bio-essential nutrients, including phosphorus, sulfur, iron, and other enzyme-supporting metals, and biomolecules. This talk will summarize our current understanding and report some ongoing research about the availability of these nutrients and biomolecules. Furthermore, I will overview the limiting nutrient and possibly additional limiting factors for the origin and survival of life in the subsurface oceans of some icy moons. These considerations can help in defining future astrobiology missions to the outer solar system and beyond.
BIO
Jihua Hao is a Professor at Department of Geochemistry and Planetary Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China. He is also an affiliated research scientist at Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. He got his PhD in Geochemistry at Johns Hopkins University from 2012 to 2016. Then, he had two periods of postdoctoral research at University of Lyon 1, France and Rutgers University, USA, respectively.
He is interested in general astrobiology research, including but not limited to early earth surface environments, origin and early evolution of life, water chemistry of icy moon oceans, photogeochemistry, and high temperature and pressure aqueous geochemistry.
Host: Xuening Bai
