Saturn’s moon Enceladus is one of the main extraterrestrial regions in the solar system where life thrives. Its interior heating theoretically includes a global salt ocean that maintains a temperature suitable for an alien marine ecosystem. But discovering this life is not such a simple matter. The Moon is surrounded by an ice crust estimated to be 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) thick at its thinnest point, and the ocean beneath is 10 kilometers deep. That would be pretty tough, let alone a Moon in the middle of the solar system here on Earth.

But we may not have to do everything to pierce Enceladus’ crust. A new study shows that on an icy moon, we should be able to detect life in the salt water clouds that gush from its surface, even if there isn’t much life there.

“Obviously, sending a robot that crawls through ice cracks and dives deep into the seafloor won’t be easy,” says Regis Ferrier, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona.

“Our team has shown that, by modeling data that a more trained and sophisticated spacecraft in orbit can only collect from plumes, this approach will be sufficient to confidently determine whether there is life in the ocean of Enceladus survey. The depths of the moon. This is an exciting possibility.”

Enceladus is very different from Earth; barely crawling with cows and butterflies. But in the depths of the Earth’s ocean, far from the life-giving light of the Sun, another ecosystem emerged. Clustered around vents on the ocean floor that release heat and chemicals, life does not rely on photosynthesis but on harnessing the energy of chemical reactions.

What we know about Enceladus suggests that similar ecosystems may be lurking on the seafloor. Every 32.9 hours, it orbits Saturn, following an elliptical path that twists the inside of the moon, generating enough heat to keep water closest to the mother fluid.