2005-07-29 | MISSIONS
Cassini Finds an Active, Watery World
Saturn's tiny icy moon Enceladus, which ought to be cold and dead, instead displays evidence for active ice volcanism. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found a huge cloud of water vapor over the moon's south pole, and warm fractures where evaporating ice probably supplies the vapor cloud. Cassini has also confirmed Enceladus is the major source of Saturn's largest ring, the E-ring.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Cassini is studying Saturn using 18 highly sophisticated science instruments. Through Cassini, scientists hope to gain a better understanding of Saturn, its famous rings, its magnetosphere, Titan, and its other icy moons. Titan is of particular interest to astrobiologists because it is the only known moon in the Solar System with a thick atmosphere. Studying the organic chemistry of Titan's atmosphere, which could resemble that of early Earth, may help scientists understand the origin of life on our planet. Understanding how life emerges from cosmic and planetary precursors is a primary goal of astrobiology.
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from NASA, Jul 29, 2005
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