Wednesday, 04.02.08
Saturn's Fountain of Life
NASA Image by David Seals
Warm-Blooded Plants and Freeze-Dried Fish
November 1997
Freeman J. Dyson fearlessly navigates the future of space migration.
Life on Mars
June 1977
David L. Chandler pushes the cautious conclusions of the Viking experiments.
E.T. and God
September 2003
Paul Davies considers the religious consequences of extraterrestrial life.
Spewing out of Enceladus's south pole is a geyser, a fizzling spray of what looks like ice-crystals ejected from a big liquid reservoir. The presence of liquid water indicates a heat source (it's 330 degrees below zero on most of Enceladus's surface, so something must be heating the area), as well as the possibility that life exists in a form we might recognize. As far as scientists can tell, the water has been there for hundreds of millions of years, more than enough time to give the warm primordial slurry a chance to breed some microbes, and possibly more complex life. Is the geyser spraying freeze-dried fish into orbit around Enceladus?
Cassini is set for another fly-by in August, and if it finds more evidence of life-supporting conditions, this will have been the first step in one of the most important scientific discoveries in decades. NASA, Cassini's main patron, has been abnormally giddy over the possibility that Enceladus will yield even more tantalizing signs that the moon bears further investigation. And so it should be: Here the agency has undisputed potential for scientific advance, and at a very reasonable cost. The price-tag of the whole Cassini-Huygens program -- which has done fly-bys of Jupiter and Venus as well -- is $3.26 billion, less than the cost of two Shuttle missions and considerably more productive for our understanding of the universe. The Shuttle has for years looked like a total boondoggle and welfare program for aerospace contractors, whereas this could reveal the secrets of life and offer clues as to whether we're alone. How refreshing to see a NASA program whose cost makes it feel like we're getting a steal, rather than getting our billions stolen.
Many moons agoSpace Cat Rocket Ship provides a brief history of Enceladus. |
Tiny life?Chris McKay says microbial life could exist beneath Saturn's geyser moon, a possibility that keeps scientists returning to it for study. |
Paradigm shiftDon Hoyt Gorman says that discovering life on Mars will require a profound revision of our understanding of evolution. |
"A spectacular phenomenon"Nova interviews Dr. Carolyn Porco, leader of the team that captured images of Enceladus. |
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the warm center of enceladus is now referred to as ensalada.
3.26 billion jeez thats alot of money
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Is the geyser spraying freeze-dried fish into orbit around Enceladus?
Planet of the sea monkeys!!!!
Posted by drjimcooper | April 2, 2008 3:33 PM