JEDDAH: A crater in Saudi Arabia holds clues for possible life on one of Saturn’s moons, more than 1 billion km from Earth, a study has found.
Scientists from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology sampled the extreme environment of Al-Wahbah Crater near Taif, comparing it to Enceladus, Saturn’s sixth-largest moon.
They discovered extremophiles in the crater that suggest the existence of biosignatures on the celestial body, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Enceladus has become a curiosity to astrobiologists due to the large ocean below its icy crust. The water is highly alkaline and saline, and includes complex molecules, such as methane and oxygen, consistent with signs of life. Al-Wahbah Crater contains a similar environment.
“Al-Wahbah Crater serves as an Earth analog for Enceladus’ ocean, where similar conditions might support life,” said Alexandre Rosado, the KAUST professor who led the study, told the SPA.
To identify the unique characteristics of life in the crater, scientists isolated 48 bacterial strains, finding two that had a composition indicating an adaptability suitable for the extreme environment of Enceladus.
Based on their genetic, metabolic and chemical profiles, the two strains showed an effective survival strategy for the extreme environment of the crater.
“The strains are thermohaloalkaliphilic bacteria, thriving in high temperatures, salinity and alkaline pH. These conditions mimic the environments on Enceladus, making them ideal candidates for studying life in such extreme conditions,” Junia Schultz, a postdoctoral researcher involved in the project, told SPA.
Along with a high tolerance for alkalinity and extreme temperatures, the two strains possess other advantageous features inferred from their genomic capabilities, such as potential resistance to high pressures and ionizing radiation, which minimizes DNA mutations.
Al-Wahbah is not the only analog of Enceladus’ environment on Earth, but scientists researching extraterrestrial life prefer the site to other locations.
“Environments with conditions similar to Enceladus are rare on Earth. Other places have been studied for resembling Enceladus’ ocean. However, they are not as accessible or well suited for the type of microbial studies we conducted at Al-Wahbah,” said Alef dos Santos, a Ph.D. student who contributed to the study.
Rosado and his colleagues said that their study is the first to demonstrate the utility of Saudi Arabia’s extreme environments as a model for detecting extraterrestrial life.
Other locations in the Kingdom, on land and in the Red Sea, may prove valuable in seeking biosignatures on planets such as Mars, they added.
Having sent its first female astronaut to space in 2023 and with plans to launch its first space tourists in 2026, Saudi Arabia aims to build a major presence in the space industry in the near future.
The findings at Al-Wahbah could position Saudi Arabia as an invaluable partner for several space agencies, including NASA.
The US agency’s Europa Clipper project plans to launch missions for the exploration of Enceladus in the coming years, the SPA said.
“In addition to advancing our understanding of how bacteria might adapt to hostile environments, this research aids in guiding the continued astrobiology quest for extraterrestrial life” said Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a retired scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and adjunct professor in the department of space studies at the University of North Dakota.
