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Enceladus Life Finder Mission

Enceladus Life Finder Mission. 16 November 2016. Io Europa Enceladus. All these moons are heated by tides that stretch and press them. Enceladus. Size: 513.2 × 502.8 × 496.6 km Composition: ice and rock Jets – source of Saturn ’ s E-ring Habitability:

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Enceladus Life Finder Mission

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  1. Enceladus Life FinderMission 16 November 2016

  2. Io Europa Enceladus All these moons are heated by tides that stretch and press them

  3. Enceladus • Size: 513.2 × 502.8 × 496.6 km • Composition: ice and rock • Jets – source of Saturn’s E-ring Habitability: • Enceladus ejects plumes of salt water + grains of silica-rich sand, nitrogen (in ammonia), nutrients and organic molecules • This indicates that hydrothermal activity—an energy source—may be at work in Enceladus's subsurface ocean. • The underground warm water provides a possible location for life, perhaps similar to that found under the ice cover of Antarctic lakes.

  4. Enceladus Surface • Voyager images (1980,1981) showed both heavily cratered and smooth regions • Cassini saw great fractures in the south, called ‘tiger stripes’ • These cracks probably extend down to water reservoirs, because ice grains and vapor jet out of them • These are the warmest parts of Enceladus surface

  5. Enceladus Interior • Differentiated: Rocky core at the center, surrounded by ice mantle, with water oceans and seas, covered by a cold, icy crust • Some unknown plumbing brings the water under pressure to the surface, where it freezes and shoots out like an ice cannon • Thus the jets can sample the interior without needing to land and drill down

  6. ISS observation of jets

  7. “Tiger stripes”

  8. Cryovolcanism

  9. Tiger Stripes

  10. IR images • -> Temperature: • Tiger Stripes • are warm • Source of heat? • Tidal heating • Radioactive heating • Chemistry (ammonia)

  11. Tiger Stripes close-up

  12. Even closer!

  13. Discussion Topic: Talk with those near you • What types of experiments would you carry to Enceladus to look for life? How are these similar or different from those for Europa?

  14. Future Search for Enceladus Life • First: Where is the water? • At South Pole tiger stripes • 1-50km deep • Getting to Enceladus is not easy, it is a long trip, requires multiple rocket burns to reach it and to land softly • How to reach water • Fly through plumes • Land safely near the plume (not easy because the surface is rough) and then drill (hot brick?) • Staged approach • Saturn orbiter with multiple flybys provides detailed maps; then an Enceladus orbiter and lander; finally, mobility to explore with a rover • Tests for life • Microscopy, culture a sample, labeled nutrients, identify life molecules: amino acids, polypeptides, polysaccharides, lipids, nucleic acids and DNA

  15. Summary • Enceladus is heated by tides • Water erupts in jets to form a giant plume • This shows a salty, underground ocean • Enceladus has all the requirements for life • Liquid water, biogenic elements from rocks and meteorites, energy from sunlight and geothermal • Search for life by flying through and by drilling down to the ocean

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