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Europe may be headed to Saturn’s moon Enceladus in search of life, according to a new report from planetary scientists leading future large-scale missions to the outer solar system.
of european space agency (ESA) is making considerable progress with its Voyager 2050 program, which describes its mid-century scientific goals and mission. Its overarching theme is “Moon of the Moon.” solar system” was selected in 2021, and now expert reports recommend that Enceladus should be the main target.
Enceladus It is an icy moon that is 309 miles (498 kilometers) wide. Saturn. In 2006, cassini mission Researchers have discovered a huge plume of water vapor erupting from a deep crack in the surface of Enceladus called the “Tiger Stripe” near its south pole.The plume is a result of Saturn gravity Inject energy by stretching and squeezing Enceladus’ internal organs like putty. moonIts interior keeps water liquid in the world’s oceans and periodically squirts some of that water through the Tiger Stripes, much like squeezing water out of a bottle.
Related: Saturn’s Moons: Facts about the ringed planet’s weird and wonderful moons
ESA convened a 12-person committee of planetary scientists from across Europe, chaired by Zita Martins, an astrobiologist at Portugal’s Institute of Advanced Technology, to explore the mission to Enceladus, another moon of Saturn. He valued the science that can be gained from adventure. Giant or Jupiter ocean moon europa. Meanwhile, engineers at ESA’s Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) considered what kind of mission would be most realistic given current and near-future technologies.
“The search for habitable conditions and signs of life in the solar system is challenging from a scientific and technological perspective, but extremely exciting,” Martins said in the paper. press statement.
From both a scientific and technological perspective, Enceladus came out on top, followed by Titan and Europa.
Enceladus contains all the elements needed for a potentially habitable environment. Liquid water — check. Organic molecules — check.source of information Chemical energy that fuels life – check.
The report suggests that a mission to Enceladus (or Titan) will consist of both an orbiter and a lander.They will be released separately Ariane 6 Launch the rocket and then rendezvous earth It will orbit Saturn before heading to Saturn. Once there, they will make several flights of Saturn’s other moons that could potentially host oceans. Dione, Mimas and rarebefore approaching the target of Enceladus or Titan.
If Enceladus is selected, the lander will land in the Antarctic region near the Tiger Spot and collect samples of the snow that falls on the surface from the plume. Alternatively, if ESA wants to omit the lander for budgetary reasons, the orbiter could fly inside the plume and sample material that way. This has been done before with the Cassini spacecraft. Cassini had no equipment that could detect life. discovered organic molecules From the ocean inside the plume.
The lander as part of the Titan mission will focus on landing on an empty lake bed, which is seasonally filled with liquid hydrocarbons such as ethane and methane, and sampling the sediment there. However, getting the orbiter into Low Titan orbit, where it can also sample the Moon’s upper atmosphere, is difficult because it requires a significant delta-v (velocity change), and to do so requires a more complex orbiter with more fuel. mass at launch, which would require a larger spacecraft and, as a result, fuel storage would also increase.
It’s also worth pointing out that NASA is already developing a mission to Titan, a quadcopter called Dragonfly. Launch in 2028 Explore the sky and surface of the big moon. And while Titan certainly has organic chemistry that could assemble the building blocks of life, the moon’s astrobiological potential has been called into question by recent studies. lack of organic matter It will reach the underground ocean from the surface of the earth.
Related: Titan: Facts about Saturn’s largest moon
european clipper Scheduled to launch in October 2024, it has already maximized the science it can carry out by passing close to Europa. A lander is needed to significantly advance the science that can be done on Europa, but with current radiation-shielding technology, it is estimated that the lander will last only 10 days on Europa’s irradiated surface. Both the ESA Scientific Committee and the CDF Committee concluded that such a mission is currently not feasible. time.
If ESA is able to pull off the Enceladus mission, it would be a huge achievement with the potential to make history, depending on what it discovers.
ESA’s director of science, Carol Mandel, said: “The exploration of signs of past and present life around Saturn has never before been achieved.” “It will ensure ESA’s leadership in planetary science for decades to come.”
of complete report It can be found on the European Space Agency website.
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