Cassini scientists have found the ingredients for amino acids condensed onto ice grains emitted by Saturn's sixth-largest moon. The next step for the search for life in the solar system is then to turn to the places in the solar system most likely to currently host life, the icy moons. It would then be able to study the potential source of life on the icy moons and arguably the single most promising location in the solar system for the existence of life.Figure 10 illustrates a mission concept to deploy a submersible in the ocean of an icy moon. The environments are totally different, the engineering requirements are too.Yes but keep one valuable point in mind: Europa is 400 million miles closer to Earth than the Saturn system.I know we could explore all these worlds and more if we chose to, but if we have to start picking and choosing, let us go with the closer one first.If distance is the overriding concern, why even go to Europa when Mars, Venus and the Moon are all closer?Because the chances are better and easier for finding life on Europa than any of the other worlds you mention. To access these subglacial areas, a probe must melt through up to a few hundreds of meters of ice to sample the potential liquid water pocket habitat. A robotic, sample return mission to a gas giant moon seems ambitious at this point. The success of Deep-Impact using 300 kg of copper to ablate comet material set a good precedent. The following week was dedicated to PSG #75, the Cassini Project Science Group meeting at JPL. Adapted from [9]To melt through the few hundreds of meters of ice, a so called shallow melting probe is needed. “There it is,” Culberson responded.As it turns out, the paper in question had not been published yet, and the journal had embargoed its release until May 14.My question: Someone at NASA sat on this information that Europa does have at least one active geyser for 21 years WHY?! © 2020 TIME USA, LLC. Planetary scientists now have Enceladus to consider as a possible habitat for life.”These findings first began to take shape in 2005, when Cassini’s cameras obtained the first-ever detailed images of the south polar region of Enceladus. What’s more, jets of icy particles from that ocean, laced with a brew of water and simple organic chemicals, gush out into space continuously from this fascinating ocean world. This is partly discussed e.g. You can unsubscribe at any time. However difficult, though, such a mission would offer a unique chance, Laughlin says: “Getting in situ excavation of stuff from another planetary system is a pretty cool thing.”Rare deep-sea creatures may use underwater chimneys to keep their eggs warmSelf-Driving Robots Collect Water Samples to Create Snapshots of Ocean Microbes For the first time, scientists from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UH Mānoa) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) will deploy a small fleet of long-range autonomous underwater vehicles (LRAUVs) that have the ability to collect and archive seawater samples automatically.These new robots will allow researchers to track and study ocean microbes in unprecedented detail.A late addition to the article: there is an excellent paper by B. Sherwood of JPL on what a roadmap for the exploration of the Enceladus (also as a template for the exploration of the other icy moons) would look like. doi:10.1089/ast.2008.0265. With its global ocean, unique chemistry and internal heat, Enceladus has become a promising lead in our search for worlds where life could exist. Just imagine the effect tides would have and the hot rocky cores volcanoes blowing gases and minerals into the ocean and the surface. This means that for the mission to be viable, the landing must be safe and reliable, and significantly more so than past planetary lander missions have been.Figure 10: Left: Concept for the deployment of a submersible to explore the ocean floor of Europa. Cassini's Grand Finale orbits pay off: Final dives tell the story of the previously unexplored region between Saturn and its rings Something—perhaps an atmosphere—was pushing against Saturn's magnetic field near Enceladus.
It looks as though the most life-friendly habitat ever discovered outside of Earth is Enceladus—Saturn's sixth-largest moon. There are microbes that can withstand the radiation and vacuum of space for years tucked away in parts of a spacecraft.