A team of scientists from Cornell University have developed a model for a new type of methane-based, oxygen-free life form that could be capable of thriving in the harsh, icy conditions on Saturn's giant moon, Titan.

Liquid water is necessary for life on Earth and scientists have been searching the universe for other similar worlds that could be capable of sustaining life. Saturn's freezing moon, Titan is the only other planet in the solar system that holds naturally occurring surface liquids. Located 886 million miles away from the sun, Titan is known for its icy temperatures and believed to have vast hydrocarbon oceans and rivers made of liquid methane.

Drawing inspiration from Isaac Asimov's 1962 essay "Not as We Know It," the university's researchers came up with a theory that the celestial body "could harbor methane-based, oxygen-free cells." The Cornell researchers have named their membrane "azotosome" a cell membrane comprised of nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen molecules, as against the phospholipid membrane normally found on terrestrial cells.

The scientists believe that the azotosomes could be capable of surviving in a liquid methane environment with temperatures as low as 292 degrees below zero. Theoretically, the azotosomes could be as stable and flexible as the cell membranes found on Earth, according to the scientists. These methane-based, oxygen-free cells could thrive on Titan to metabolize, reproduce and do all the things that life on Earth does.

Calling it "the first concrete blueprint of life not as we know it," the researchers published their theory in Friday's edition of journal Science Advances. Based on the initial proof of concept, the team of researchers will now try to figure out how these organisms will "behave in a methane environment" in order to understand what "life" in methane will consist of.