LIFE-SUSTAINING ELEMENT FOUND ON MOON OF SATURN
<p><b>**This package/segment contains third party material. Unless otherwise noted, this material may only be used within this package/segment.**</b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>***This pkg contains photos from AP/Getty Images that are only cleared for use within the pkg. Affiliates may not cut these photos out of the pkg for individual use.***</b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--SUPERS</b>--</p>\n<p>:06 - :12</p>\n<p>John Vase </p>\n<p>CNN Anchor </p>\n<p></p>\n<p>:48 - :56</p>\n<p>Christopher Glein</p>\n<p>Lead Scientist, Space Science, Southwest Research Institute</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>:56 - 1:10</p>\n<p>NASA</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>1:31 - 1:55</p>\n<p>NASA</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>2:40 - 3:02</p>\n<p>Getty Images</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>3:13 - 3:24</p>\n<p>From Carolco Pictures/TriStar Pictures</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--LEAD IN</b>--</p>\n<p>FOR THE FIRST TIME, SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED EVIDENCE OF PHOSPHORUS IN AN OCEAN BEYOND EARTH.</p>\n<p>A NEW STUDY IN THE JOURNAL "NATURE" SAYS THE LIFE-SUSTAINING ELEMENT WAS FOUND INSIDE SALTY ICE GRAINS SHOT INTO SPACE FROM ENCELADUS, ONE OF SATURN'S MOONS.</p>\n<p>NOT ONLY IS PHOSPHORUS VITAL TO ALL LIFE ON EARTH, BUT ITS EXISTENCE SUPPORTS THE IDEA OF AN OCEAN BENEATH THE ICY SURFACE OF THE MOON, CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING LIFE.</p>\n<p>NO ACTUAL LIFE HAS BEEN DETECTED THERE YET.</p>\n<p>A CO-AUTHOR OF THE STUDY SAYS, QUOTE: </p>\n<p>"THE NEXT STEP IS CLEAR... WE NEED TO GO BACK TO SEE IF THE HABITABLE OCEAN IS ACTUALLY INHABITED."</p>\n<p>CHRISTOPHER GLEIN, A PLANETARY SCIENTIST, GEOCHEMIST AND CO-AUTHOR OF THE STUDY JOINED JOHN VAUSE.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--REPORTER PKG-AS FOLLOWS</b>--</p>\n<p>John Vase, CNN Anchor: Thank you for being with us.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Christopher Glein, Lead Scientist, Space Science, Southwest Research Institute: Hi John. I'm happy to be with you.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>John Vase, CNN Anchor: That's great. Ok, I'm about to read three different headlines for you about this discovery. At the end of it, tell me which one best describes what this is all about. Ok. From space dot com. First ever detection of phosphorus shows that uh insular… I keep getting that wrong… enceladus, has all necessary ingredients for life. Ok. from the independent has this, major finding on Saturn's moon boosts hopes of finding alien life in our solar system. And they have this with the good folk at the daily mail they they ask are aliens hiding on Saturn's moon? Scientists discover phosphates and say it could be a sign of life. Ok so is it ingredients for life, increased chance of finding alien life, or the aliens are actually hiding on Saturn's moon?</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Christopher Glein, Lead Scientist, Space Science, Southwest Research Institute:</p>\n<p>Right? So there's a lot to impact there. It's definitely an ingredient for life. It's one of the big six elements that life uses. So it makes the environment habitable, what scientists call it. Those are the conditions that can support life. And if you have those conditions that can support life, that gives you better odds of finding life, but we cannot yet say that we know or do not know if Enceladus has life.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>John Vase, CNN Anchor: Ok. So Satin has what … 160 moons at last count? How was this discovery made on Enceladus, especially since it wasn't really something you were looking for? Nor did you expect.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Christopher Glein, Lead Scientist, Space Science, Southwest Research Institute:</p>\n<p>Right there, there was, we, we had a mission there about 10 years ago named Cassini. It did a lot of great science. There were different models suggesting that phosphorus could be very rare or more abundant. So we weren't really quite sure what to expect. And then over the past few years, um this team, I was a part of led by Frank Postberg, uh we started looking at the data from the Cassini mission and we found the telltale signs of phosphorus contained in the chemical data of material that spewed out of Enceladus’ Ocean.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>John Vase, CNN Anchor: So the New York Times sort of breaks down the importance like this. It's kind of a good write. They say phosphorus is a key ingredient in human bones and teeth and scientists say it's the rarest bio essential ingredient in the cosmos. Planetary researchers have previously detected the other five key elements on Enceladus: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulphur. Although they're a bit dodgy on the sulphur plant right now. Um if this potentially habitable ocean was in fact inhabited, what sort of life form would be there, what would it look like?</p>\n<p>Christopher Glein, Lead Scientist, Space Science, Southwest Research Institute:</p>\n<p>Right. So we're a long way from answering the question if it's inhabited, we'll need a new mission to do that. But from what we know from the data, the kinds of life that could be supported under these conditions would be microbes. So they, they could be organisms that would be either at the bottom of the ice sheet near the surface, or they could be at the bottom of Enceladus Ocean at the sea floor. Perhaps next to what we think are hydrothermal vents at the sea floor. Those would be the kinds of environments that are very dynamic where a lot of ingredients would be mixed in and would be most favorable for supporting life.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>John Vase, CNN Anchor: We have a thing here we like to play movie clips whenever we do kind of, you know, segments about space and in the movie Total Recall, we should note that Satin apparently was a hot destination of choice. Watch this.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Film clip: To be perfectly honest with you, Doug, if outer space is your thing, I think you would be much happier with one of our Saturn cruises. Everybody raves about them.</p>\n<p>I'm not interested in Saturn. I said Mars</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>John Vase, CNN Anchor: He wants to go to Mars. So I guess so if Enceladus may be able to support life, it doesn't seem capable of supporting human life. That's right?</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Christopher Glein, Lead Scientist, Space Science, Southwest Research Institute:</p>\n<p>Well, if, if we wanted to have humans go there, and I don't think that would be our first step into the solar system, uh we would need the kinds of life supporting systems like you'd need on other planetary bodies or, you know, like if we go to the moon or Mars, we'd have to have self sustaining systems to keep people alive.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>John Vase, CNN Anchor: But the fact that there is water there is obviously, you know what something which can then be used to sustain some kind of human settlement is that right?</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Christopher Glein, Lead Scientist, Space Science, Southwest Research Institute:</p>\n<p>It could be, yeah, the, the surface of Enceladus is frozen. It's very bright water ice. So there there's a lot of water that's available there as ice on the surface and then liquid water down a few miles below the surface.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>John Vase, CNN Anchor: Yeah, not exactly our first stop into the universe, right? Uh Well, the moon, I guess, but Christopher thank you so much for being with us, we really appreciate it and congratulations on your discovery. It's been described as one of the biggest in the last 25 years. So um well done.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>Christopher Glein, Lead Scientist, Space Science, Southwest Research Institute:</p>\n<p>Thank you, John.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>John Vase, CNN Anchor: Take care.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>-----END-----CNN.SCRIPT-----</b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--KEYWORD TAGS--</b></p>\n<p>SPACE SCEINCE SATURN MOON EARTH LIFE</p>\n<p></p>