Saturn's icy moon Enceladus is best known for its numerous geysers ejecting plumes of water and ice. These eruptive fountains are perplexing researchers searching for signs of microbial life beyond Earth. A dedicated spacecraft designated to study the plume-like features sprouting from Enceladus could definitely tell us whether or not they contain alien microorganisms.

"We need a spacecraft to travel to Enceladus, fly through a geyser plume, and analyze the water that is immediately accessible," Geoffrey Marcy, a retired professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, told Astrowatch.net.

Marcy is a renowned exoplanet researcher, who discovered many extrasolar worlds. He was one of the co-Investigators of NASA's Kepler planet-hunting mission that detected more than 4,000 exoworlds. He was also involved in studies focusing on detecting signals from extraterrestrial civilizations and was the Principal Investigator of the Breakthrough Listen project. The program, funded by billionaire Yuri Milner, is looking for signs of extraterrestrial civilizations by searching stars and galaxies for radio signals and laser transmissions.

Marcy underlines that when it comes to searching for signs of microbial life in our Solar System a help from billionaires investing in space project could be also much helpful.

"The NASA missions, as currently planned, will require at least 20 years before a detection of microbial life will happen, at the earliest. However, a brilliant team of billionaires could work with NASA to fund a spacecraft to Saturn's moon, Enceladus. It could capture the water spurting out the geysers and use conventional microscopes to detect any microbial life there," Marcy said.

While a future mission to Enceladus would address complex questions about the origin of life, the spacecraft itself will be relatively easy to built and operate. According to Marcy, we just need a dedicated probe equipped in a set of well-suited science instruments, capable of flying through the plumes and able to perform required measurements.

"The remarkable aspect of the search for microbes in the water spurting from geysers is that the spacecraft only needs to fly through the plume, well above the surface of Enceladus. No lander is needed - just a succession of fly-bys through the plumes as it orbits Enceladus," Marcy said.

He noted that such spacecraft should be fitted with a mass spectrometer necessary to detect organic compounds that could be signs of microbial life. The spectrometer will look for amino acids and the structure of any organic molecules, especially fatty acids such as compose cell membranes. It could also measure the relative amounts of isotopes of carbon (12 and 14) to detect non-natural anomalies due to biological processes.

Moreover, the mission to Enceladus would measure the properties of the water such as pH, oxidation, temperature, therefore assessing its suitability for organic life.

Marcy added that besides a spectrometer, the proposed spacecraft should also have an optical imaging system capable of capturing microscopic images in order to better look for microorganisms on this icy world.

"The mission should also include a microscope and camera to image directly any organisms in the water that are as small as a few microns in size," Marcy said.

Discovered in 1789 by William Herschel, Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn with a diameter of about 310 miles (500 kilometers). First detailed pictures of this moon were acquired in the early 1980s by NASA's two Voyager probes. Since 2005, Enceladus is continuously studied by NASA/ESA Cassini spacecraft, which detected the water plumes erupting from the moon's south polar region.

Tweet

Europe okays project to seek alien life
Paris (AFP) June 21, 2017
Europe has approved the launch of a deep-space observatory to sniff out habitable planets in other star systems, along with any life forms they may host. "The PLATO mission will address fundamental questions such as 'how common are Earth-like planets?' and 'is our solar system unusual or even unique?'," the University of Warwick, whose scientists will take part in the project, said on Wednes ... read more

Related Links
Saturn at JPL
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science
Life Beyond Earth

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only