Speaker: 

Alfonso Davila

Research Scientist

Planetary Science Division

NASA Ames Research Center

Topic: The Search for Evidence of Life on Enceladus

In 2005, the Cassini spacecraft made a groundbreaking discovery—a massive plume of ice and gas erupting from the south pole of Enceladus, a small but geologically active moon of Saturn. The plume is now believed to originate from a subsurface ocean of liquid water beneath the moon’s icy crust, where conditions appear to be compatible with life, as we know it. This talk will focus on our current understanding of Enceladus' plume and subsurface ocean, and on strategies to search in them for possible evidence of life. 

Alfonso Davila is a Research Scientist in the Exobiology branch at NASA Ames Research Center, where he helps develop strategies to search for evidence of life beyond Earth. He also conducts theoretical and experimental research on the nature and distribution of life in terrestrial environments considered analogous to extraterrestrial settings of astrobiological interest and investigates factors that affect biological potential and biosignature preservation in those analog environments.