The new samples could be huge when it comes to understanding this moon.
Advertisement
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will dive through Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus on Wednesday, October 28, at a distance of just 30 miles (50 kilometres) above the surface.
However, NASA says this flyby is not meant to detect life “but it will provide powerful new insights about how habitable the ocean environment is within Enceladus”.
Scientists hope that the trip will tell them how much icy material is emanating from Enceladus, and perhaps what kinds of complex organic molecules it contains, though not with enough detail to determine if anything is alive.
As of now, we still have to wait if Cassini will find the first evidence of life outside our planet.
The maneuver, a journey through the plume, may also help researchers in finding if the plume was a single column-based structure or whether individual jets and eruption were its cause. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft discovered the moon has a global ocean and likely hydrothermal activity.
“This activity could have important implications for the potential habitability of the ocean for simple forms of life”.
Analysis of the chemical composition of the geyser-like plumes that erupt from the moon suggests that chemical reactions are taking place between water and rock deep beneath the surface, according to the research which appears this week in the academic journal Nature Communications.
If life exists – and more missions would be needed for confirmation – it might range from microscopic algae to little fish, the scientists said.
The action unfolds late Wednesday morning Eastern Time; it will take several hours to confirm success and start returning the information. The images will be smeared because of Cassini’s speed, but the team hopes to remove the blurs and have a few dramatic shots by Thursday night or Friday. “It’s not our last, but arguably this one is going to be our most dramatic”, said project manager Earl Maize. Cassini’s scheduled dive into the moon’s continuous plumes will be the closest the spacecraft has ever gotten to its surface, making the endeavor more perilous than earlier flybys.
Scientists were tempted to fly even lower Wednesday, but did not want to waste fuel.
Advertisement
These observations, in a few ways, are part of Cassini’s long goodbye to the Saturn system.
