NASA recently decided to go explore Europa -- meanwhile the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have crunched some reams of satellite data and they have uncovered another likely contender.
Another contender for a likely solar-system "hot spot" for Life.
To the moon! NASA finds water, suspects life on Saturn moon
Reports about Enceladus come as NASA plans robotic mission to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons
by Sharon Gaudin, Computerworld -- April 4, 2014
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"Material from Enceladus' south polar jets contains salty water and organic molecules, the basic chemical ingredients for life," Linda Spilker, Cassini's project scientist at JPL [managed for NASA, by California Institute of Technology], said in a statement. "Their discovery expanded our view of the 'habitable zone' within our solar system and in planetary systems of other stars. This new validation that an ocean of water underlies the jets furthers understanding about this intriguing environment."
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This diagram shows what scientists suspect is an underground ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The presence of water could mean theres life there. (Image: NASA)
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NASA said that Cassini has flown past Enceladus 19 times [Saturn moon]. Three of those flybys, from 2010 to 2012, yielded precise trajectory measurements. Those measurements support the belief that there is an ocean underneath an ice shell.
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In December, the Hubble Space Telescope spotted a huge water plume emanating from the south pole of Europa [Jupiter moon], coming up from an enormous ocean that lies beneath the ice shell that covers the moon.
Europa's ocean, which has hydro thermal vents, is about 62 miles deep and covers the entire moon. That's about 10 times deeper than the ocean on Earth and it holds twice as much water.
[...]
WOW! That's some ocean on Enceladus. One with "organics" too. Too bad
'the Sky IS the Limit' die has already been cast ...
Cast primarily by those Budget geniuses who personally have much disdain, and very limited use for Science, as a general welfare-building human pursuit.
Meanwhile, our premiere scientists are suffering under the ill-conceived scrounge of Austerity -- having to pick and choose their exploration battles ... some that perhaps only the next generations, will ever get to fully appreciate:
NASA plans a robotic mission to search for life on Europa
by George Dvorsky, io9.com -- 3/05/14
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Yesterday [March 4, 2014], NASA announced an injection of $17.5 billion from the federal government (down by $1.2 billion from its 2010 peak). Of this, $15 million will be allocated for "pre-formulation" work on a mission to Europa, with plans to make detailed observations from orbit and possibly sample its interior oceans with a robotic probe. Mission details are sparse, but if all goes well, it could be launched by 2025 and arriving in the early 2030s.
Image: Europa (NASA/JPL)
[...] The space agency will now be looking at competing ideas for the proposed Europa mission. NASA is still not sure how big the mission should be, or how much it will cost.
Here's a dumb question ...
Why in the world can't we go check out BOTH?
What else are we going to do with those billions in Paul Ryan's "Budgetary $avings" -- Go out and buy yet another short-lived I-Phone device? Something destined to end up in last year's trash heap?
Inquiring minds, used to want to know ...
One more dumb question: What Happened!?