Life beyond Earth?

Is it possible that there is life elsewhere in the Solar System?
Well, it is indeed possible that there is life elsewhere in our Solar System. Our search for alien life is focused right now on Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Titan, and Jupiter’s moon Europa. Those three extraterrestrial bodies confirmed to contain liquid oceans are targets of keen interest and of future exploration.

A short list of ingredients for life: An energy source for metabolism and a chemical cocktail of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are needed for life to exist as we know it.

Why these three moons were chosen as candidates?
In 2000, oceanographers discovered masses of hydrothermal vent systems in the Atlantic Ocean, they were   essentially pools of heated water. Until then, such systems had been found only above underwater volcanoes.
This bodies of water were different they were heated by chemical reactions between seawater and rock rather than from magma. High amounts of methane and hydrogen gas came out of the vents and a huge microbial ecosystem fed on it.

Enceladus


Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn. It is about 500 kilometers in diameter.  It is mostly covered by clean ice. This ocean world has been the target of several investigations missions from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Cassini data showed jets of ice and water particles coming out of Enceladus, breaking through the moon’s icy shell.

A sample of the particles also revealed they contained organic materials. An ocean is surely hiding under the moon’s surface.

Titan


Titan is the largest moon of Saturn. It is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere and the only object in space other than Earth where clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found.
Titan contains lakes of methane and hydrocarbon, along with an underground oceans of an unknown liquid.
Titan has the possibility for life as we know it and maybe as we don’t know it!
Whether liquid water is needed for life to exist is an interesting question.
Is there a possibility that some exotic form of life may have developed in these hydrocarbon lakes and seas ?
We won't know until we see for ourselves.

Europa



Europa is the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, and it is the sixth moon closest to the planet.
It has an interesting, time-varying magnetic field, which indicates it harbors a salty underground ocean ten times deeper than the deepest area of Earth’s oceans. Thermal vents like those on Earth, which are found deep underwater, might exist on Europa, according to information gathered by the Voyager spacecraft. Europa is constantly being pulled and pushed by Jupiter  in an eccentric orbit, which creates heat. It seems like Europa has a stable source of heat beneath its global ocean and could contain pockets of pockets of life.

Nasa has announced their intentions, to send new missions to Europa to attain a better picture of it's landscape and gather reconnaissance for possible future landings and maybe human habitability.


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Source https://www.nasa.gov/europa
http://ideas.ted.com/could-these-three-moons-help-us-find-life-beyond-earth/?utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=ideas-blog&utm_term=science
https://www.nasa.gov/subject/3148/europa/