NASA said the discovery of oxygen molecules was recently around one of Saturn's moon Dione, giving an indication of the common elements contained in flanged planetary system and suggest the possibility that these elements can be produced through a process that does not involve living organisms.
NASA said the robot Cassini spacecraft, orbiting Saturn, detecting very small amount of molecular oxygen ions.
Cassini scientists say the ice-covered satellite has a very thin neutral atmosphere, called the exosphere, which is equal to the atmospheric density at an altitude of 480 kilometers above Earth's surface. Dione in the air gap, the Cassini found only one molecule of oxygen in the chamber every 11 cubic centimeters.
Cassini's discovery gives an indication of the oxygen molecule is produced from the surface of the ice-water small moon of Saturn that is when the moon's surface is bombarded by sunlight photon or particle smaller than an ordinary atom passing in space.
However, NASA scientists say they will continue to look for geologic processes and others are also likely to produce oxygen. In 2010, NASA's orbiter aircraft detected a similar thin exosphere, which also has a bit of oxygen, around Rhea, another of Saturn over 60 months.
Report on the discovery of oxygen in Dione Cassini spacecraft was published in the journal "Geophysical Research Letters." Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn since 2004.
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