If there is life inside the moon Enceladus perhaps now it is airborne. Could water carry bacteria 6000 km high ?
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1Many things are conceivable but that doesn’t imply they occur necessarily. – Jon Custer May 31 '23 at 20:42
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@JonCuster your comment feels unhelpful, it's not like the OP does not know that conceivability does not necessarily imply occurrence. Your not helping the post, but instead suggesting the OP said something that they did not say. I've changed "would" to "could" perhaps that's better than casting shade on the question itself. Since the height that water-borne organisms could reach is of great importance to future astrobiology missions, I think the question is important and preventing others from posting answers is unproductive. voting to leave open! – uhoh Jun 04 '23 at 03:47
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Different but related: How can "Geysers" on Europa reach heights of 100km? and Is there an established distinction between a geyser and a cryovolcano in solar system bodies? and Enceladus; why use the words "geysers", "jets", and "plumes" interchangeably? – uhoh Jun 04 '23 at 03:55
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Enceladus has what is known as a tenuous atmosphere composed mostly of water vapor, along with trace amounts of other gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen. This atmosphere originates from the geysers present near Enceladus' south pole, which expel water vapor and icy particles into space. The density is not enough to hold up a bacteria for any length of time (0.001 Pascals of pressure), even with the small gravity of this moon. But the answer is yes, bacteria (if they exist there) could be ejected at high speeds and pressures by the geysers, and they could make it all the way to Saturn's E-ring. Of course, it is unlikely they would stay alive for very long outside of their subsurface ocean.
eshaya
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1But the equivalent of bacterial spores might survive for quite some time, and there's dehydration-resistant yeast and tardigrades-type scenarios as well. Related in Biology SE: Is it known how some heat-resistance Bacillus spores repair their DNA after having been heated to 420 °C? (but not much higher) and Will proper autoclave treatment really "inactivate all resistant bacterial spores"? If not, how widespread are autoclave-resistant bacterial spores? – uhoh Jun 04 '23 at 03:51