4 ms·

Something that commenters here don't seem aware of is that Saturn's moon Enceladus has liquid water which is similar to Europa's and much cheaper to study. Ence

by comicjk 10y ago

Something that commenters here don't seem aware of is that Saturn's moon Enceladus has liquid water which is similar to Europa's and much cheaper to study. Enceladus sprays its water into space via ice volcanoes - all we have to do is fly by and we get samples of the sea itself (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enceladus_Life_Finder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enceladus_Life_Finder). On Europa by contrast we have to land on a heavy moon with no atmosphere and then deal with a huge coat of ice, just to try to get a sample. It's an interesting mission but a bad allocation of resources.

sandworm101 10y ago
I think NASA might hesitate to aim a precious probe at space geyser. The speeds are insane. But, if we could find a rock that has already traveled near enough to Enceladus ... and is coming our way. Then perhaps we can get that sample without actually going to Enceladus. We already have Mars rocks raining down on us. If we caught them while still in space we might have already found samples of Mars water.
- ridgeguy 10y ago
  NASA did just that. They flew Cassini through the geyser plumes at Enceladus to sample the presumed ocean beneath the ice on that world. At least twice. Once at an altitude of 30 miles.[1][2] [1] http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1510.html http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_15... [2] http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4759 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4759
  - sandworm101 10y ago
    But did it come back? That sort of thing would require a much larger craft and/or one moving at a much faster relative velocity (free return). A rock that once passed through those geysers might be passing earth right now.
- mnl 10y ago
  Not really, they've done that a few times with Cassini. See for instance: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7254/abs/nature08153.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7254/abs/nature08... (you can get a copy of this with a title search in Google), studying the fragmentation results with its mass spectrometer while passing through the jet plumes. Another flagship Saturn mission with upgraded instruments would be very helpful.

by comicjk 10y ago

sandworm101 10y ago

I think NASA might hesitate to aim a precious probe at space geyser. The speeds are insane. But, if we could find a rock that has already traveled near enough to Enceladus ... and is coming our way. Then perhaps we can get that sample without actually going to Enceladus. We already have Mars rocks raining down on us. If we caught them while still in space we might have already found samples of Mars water.

ridgeguy 10y ago
NASA did just that. They flew Cassini through the geyser plumes at Enceladus to sample the presumed ocean beneath the ice on that world. At least twice. Once at an altitude of 30 miles.[1][2] [1] http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1510.html http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_15... [2] http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4759 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4759
- sandworm101 10y ago
  But did it come back? That sort of thing would require a much larger craft and/or one moving at a much faster relative velocity (free return). A rock that once passed through those geysers might be passing earth right now.
mnl 10y ago
Not really, they've done that a few times with Cassini. See for instance: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7254/abs/nature08153.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7254/abs/nature08... (you can get a copy of this with a title search in Google), studying the fragmentation results with its mass spectrometer while passing through the jet plumes. Another flagship Saturn mission with upgraded instruments would be very helpful.