A moon orbiting Saturn could support life just like that found on Earth, experiments have revealed.

Enceladus has been identified as one of the most likely places in our solar system to harbour aliens. When the Cassini spacecraft flew over the icy moon, researchers monitoring its progress concluded it contained “food for life”.

Not only does Enceladus have an ocean of water underneath its icy outer crust, it also contains a variety of compounds including methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia and hydrogen that are associated with the presence of microorganisms.

Scientists have speculated that tiny creatures known as methanogenic archaea, which are found on Earth, could be found on Enceladus as well. They could use the carbon dioxide and hydrogen found there for growth, releasing methane as a byproduct.

This prompted University of Vienna microbiologist Dr Simon Rittmann, and a team of researchers, to conduct experiments imitating the conditions found on the distant moon.

Recordings taken by Cassini as it flew through plumes of water being shot from the surface of Enceladus have provided scientists with an idea of the moon’s chemical composition.

By combining experimental data from living microbes with simulations of the moon’s surface, the researchers tried to establish whether or not such conditions could sustain life.

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The scientists grew three different microbe varieties in the lab under gas compositions and pressures similar to those found on Enceladus.

They found that one species, known as Methanothermococcus okinawensis, flourished despite the presence of substances like formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, which inhibit the growth of other methanogenic archaea.

This finding suggested that at least some of the methane detected on Enceladus could be produced by the action of extraterrestial life forms similar to these microbes.

In addition, their simulations revealed a geochemical process called low-temperature serpentinisation could provide the hydrogen gas required to support such creatures.

Cassini's mission to Saturn Show all 9 1 /9 Cassini's mission to Saturn Cassini's mission to Saturn In this handout image released on April 30, 2013 by NASA, the spinning vortex of Saturn's north polar storm is seen from NASA's Cassini spacecraft on November 27, 2012 in the Saturnian system of space. The false-color image of the storm resembles a red rose surrounded by green foliage which was made by using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light at a distance of approximately 261,000 miles from Saturn NASA via Getty Images Cassini's mission to Saturn The planet Saturn is seen in the first color composite made of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its approach to the ringed planet, October 21, 2002. The probe's arrival is still 20 months away. The planet was 285 million kilometers (177 million miles) away from the spacecraft, nearly twice the distance between the Sun and Earth, when Cassini took images of it using various filters NASA/Getty Images Cassini's mission to Saturn Nasa's Cassini spacecraft is shown diving through the plume of Saturn's moon Enceladus in 2015 Nasa/JPL-Caltech/Reuters Cassini's mission to Saturn NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this view of planet Earth as a point of light between the icy rings of Saturn NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute Cassini's mission to Saturn The giant plumes of ice on Enceladus seen by the Cassini spacecraft in 2009 Nasa Cassini's mission to Saturn The image of Titan is actually a composite of a number of pictures taken by Cassini during the flyby Cassini's mission to Saturn The unique six-sided jet stream at Saturn's north pole known as "the hexagon" taken by NASA's Cassini mission is seen in this still handout image from a movie released December 4, 2013. The movie, made from images obtained by Cassini's imaging cameras, is the first to show the hexagon in color filters, and the first movie to show a complete view from the north pole down to about 70 degrees north latitude. REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Hampton/Handout (OUTER SPACE - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - RTX163SO REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Hampton/Handout Cassini's mission to Saturn REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Handout Cassini's mission to Saturn A handout photograph shows the first flash of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's moon Titan taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on July 8, 2009 and released by NASA to Reuters December 17, 2009. The glint off a mirror-like surface is known as a specular reflection. It confirmed the presence of liquid in the moon's northern hemisphere, where lakes are more numerous and larger than those in the southern hemisphere. REUTERS/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/DLR/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: SCI TECH IMAGES OF THE DAY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - RTXRYK8 REUTERS/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/DLR/Handout

These results were published in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers said their findings “make it worthwhile to increase efforts in the search for signatures for autotrophic, hydrogenotrophic methanogenic life on Enceladus and beyond”.

Others have already called for a mission specifically to Enceladus to hunt for aliens.