Following the release of Enceladus' first close-up photos, NASA goes beyond the moon's icy spray in hopes to get evidence of hydrothermal activity in Enceladus' global ocean. NASA's space probe Cassini is set to delve deeper, venturing 30 miles from the moon's south pole on Oct. 28.
This is Cassini's closest flyby around Saturn's moon, Enceladus. The scientific community is set to get proof of hypothermal activity believed to be present under the moon's icy crust, which conceals a global ocean.
Enceladus' cloud contains a mix of ice grains, water vapor, and unstable chemicals that shoot out at the speed of 1,360mph from frozen fountains. Cassini's onboard instruments will take samples of these chemicals for scientists to decipher. This historical low sweep of Enceladus' icy plume will allow Cassini to take samples of heavier molecules present in the clouds.
"This incredible plunge through the Enceladus plume is an amazing opportunity for NASA and its international partners on the Cassini mission to ask, 'Can any icy ocean world host the ingredients for life?'" explained Cassini program scientist Dr. Curt Niebur.
The Cassini spacecraft first spotted the icy plume in 2005. Scientists discovered nearly 100 geysers known as "tiger stripes" as the source of the Saturn's icy clouds. These tiger stripes are assumed to stem from a fiery origin below the moon's surface. Scientists have already identified four 1.2-mile wide cracks on Enceladus, which they believe are areas with great volcanic activities.
Scientists believe that underneath all the ice, Enceladus has a similar hypothermal activity like the ones present on Earth - volcanic cracks deep on the ocean floor that heats up sea water permeating through the fissures. This natural harmony gives life even to the darkest corners of the Earth's deepest and coldest oceans. The scientific community is hoping the historical sweep will reveal Enceladus' secrets, one of which could be signs of life.
"Confirmation of molecular hydrogen in the plume would be an independent line of evidence that hydrothermal activity is taking place in the Enceladus ocean, on the seafloor," said Dr. Hunter Waite, who leads the team working on Cassini's neutral mass spectrometer instrument (INMS). Hydrogen amount will also give clues on the level of hypothermal activity happening on Enceladus.
On Oct. 14, Cassini sent Enceladus' first batch of close-up images to Earth, now uploaded on the space agency's Cassini Solstice Mission image gallery. On Dec. 19, Cassini's flyby series on Enceladus will come to an end.
