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Where else might life exist in
our solar system? That’s a

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question that NASA scientists
are trying to answer. An

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intriguing place we are studying
is Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

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It’s the only body in the solar
system other than Earth to

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feature seas of liquid on its
surface. But that liquid is

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methane instead of water. The
cell membranes we have on Earth,

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part of our building blocks for
life, could not form here.

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Previous computer simulations
investigated which chemicals

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could be used to make cell-like
membranes on Titan. It’s been

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calculated that this molecule,
acrylonitrile, is the best

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candidate to form the most
stable membranes. What’s

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exciting is that our team at
NASA Goddard has now detected

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large amounts of this chemical
in Titan’s atmosphere, using

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spectroscopic data from ALMA,
the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub

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millimeter Array, located in
Chile. And since Titan has rain,

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a significant amount may be
reaching the surface and ending

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up in Titan’s vast lakes. More
research is needed, but by

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definitively detecting this
astrobiologically relevant

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molecule on Titan, we are
another step closer to

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understanding how and where life
could exist in our solar system.