Enceladus, encased in a thick ice shell and surrounded by a vast ocean, is a strong contender for potentially containing extraterrestrial life. Researchers have concluded…
The subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon is most likely rich in phosphorus, a key component for life. The hunt for extraterrestrial life has just become…
Discovery could point to a new class of “stealth” ocean worlds. A Southwest Research Institute scientist set out to prove that the tiny, innermost moon…
Seismic activity could give scientists a read on the thickness of the ice encasing the moon and the oceans believed to lie beneath. Tidal stresses…
A study published in Nature Astronomy concludes that known geochemical processes can’t explain the levels of methane measured by the Cassini spacecraft on Saturn’s icy…
Buried beneath 20 kilometers of ice, the subsurface ocean of Enceladus—one of Saturn’s moons—appears to be churning with currents akin to those on Earth. The…
Layers of ice and rock obviate the need for “habitable zone” and shield life against threats. SwRI researcher theorizes worlds with underground oceans may be…
Models Point to a Potentially Diverse Metabolic Menu at Enceladus Using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeled chemical processes…
A global infrared mosaic of Saturn’s moon Enceladus created using a complete dataset from the Cassini spacecraft has revealed new detail on the moon’s surface….
Scientists used data gathered by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during 13 years of exploring the Saturn system to make detailed images of the icy moon —…
Enceladus’ subsurface ocean composition hints at habitable conditions. A Southwest Research Institute team developed a new geochemical model that reveals that carbon dioxide (CO2) from…
How Enceladus Got Its Stripes New research reveals the physics governing the fissures through which ocean water erupts from the moon’s icy surface. Saturn’s icy…
Saturn’s tiny, frozen moon Enceladus is a strange place. Just 300 miles (480 kilometers) across, the moon is thought to have an outer shell of…
New kinds of organic compounds, the ingredients of amino acids, have been detected in the plumes bursting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The findings are the…
New research from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft’s up-close Grand Finale orbits shows a surprisingly powerful and dynamic interaction of plasma waves moving from Saturn to its…
Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reveal complex organic molecules originating from Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, strengthening the idea that this ocean world hosts conditions suitable…
Off the coast of Hawaii’s Big Island and more than 3,000 feet (900 meters) beneath the ocean surface lie the warm, bubbling springs of a…
Saturn’s moon Enceladus drifts before the rings and the tiny moon Pandora in this view that NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured on November 1, 2009. The…
