Close Encounter with Enceladus

Source - NASA Science News for Oct. 27, 2015

NASA's Cassini Spacecraft is about to make a daring plunge through a plume spewing from Saturn's moon Enceladus.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2015/27oct_enceladus/

A companion video is posted below and can also be viewed at: http://youtu.be/nts-bkhoMt4



Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)

Deep Ocean Detected Inside Saturn's Moon Enceladus

NASA Science News for April 3, 2014

NASA's Cassini spacecraft and Deep Space Network have uncovered evidence that Saturn's moon Enceladus harbors a large underground ocean, furthering scientific interest in the moon as a potential home to extraterrestrial microbes.

The complete article can be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/03apr_deepocean/

Big Picture Science for 07/22/13 - Rife with Life

Big Picture Science - Rife with Life

ENCORE “Follow the water” is the mantra of those who search for life beyond Earth. Where there’s water, there may be life. Join us on a tour of watery solar system bodies that hold promise for biology. Dig beneath the icy shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa, and plunge into the jets of Enceladus, Saturn’s satellite.

And let’s not forget the Red Planet. Mars is rusty and dusty, but it wasn’t always a world of dry dunes. Did life once thrive here? Also, the promise of life in the exotic hydrocarbon lakes of Titan.

Science-fiction author Robert J. Sawyer joins us, and relates how these exotic outposts have prompted imaginative stories of alien life.

Guests:

• Robert J. Sawyer – Hugo award-winning science fiction author
• Cynthia Phillips – Planetary geologist at the SETI Institute
• Alexander Hayes – Planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley
• Rachel Mastrapa – Planetary scientist for NASA and the SETI Institute
• Robert Lillis – Space and planetary scientist at the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley

This encore podcast was first released on February 27, 2012.

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Rife_with_Life

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Is it Snowing Microbes on Enceladus?

Source - NASA Science News for March 28, 2012

Is it snowing microbes on Enceladus? The idea might not be so far-fetched, say researchers, as evidence mounts for a "uniquely accessible" habitable zone on Saturn's icy moon.

FULL STORY: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/27mar_enceladus/

Big Picture Science for 02/27/12 - Rife with Life

Big Picture Science - Rife with Life

“Follow the water” is the mantra of those who search for life beyond Earth. Where there’s water, there may be life. Join us on a tour of watery solar system bodies that hold promise for biology. Dig beneath the icy shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa, and plunge into the jets of Enceladus, Saturn’s satellite.

And let’s not forget the Red Planet. Mars is rusty and dusty, but it wasn’t always a world of dry dunes. Did life once thrive here? Also, the promise of life in the exotic hydrocarbon lakes of Titan.

Science-fiction author Robert J. Sawyer joins us, and relates how these exotic outposts have prompted imaginative stories of alien life.

Guests:

• Robert J. Sawyer – Hugo award-winning science fiction author
• Cynthia Phillips – Planetary geologist at the SETI Institute
• Alexander Hayes – Planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley
• Rachel Mastrapa – Planetary scientist for NASA and the SETI Institute
• Robert Lillis – Space and planetary scientist at the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Rife_with_Life

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

A Fizzy Ocean on Enceladus

Source - NASA Science News for Jan. 26, 2011

Evidence is mounting that Saturn's moon Enceladus harbors a bubbly subterranean ocean where conditions might be friendly to life.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/26jan_fizzyocean/

A Cassini image of vaporous, icy jets emerging from fissures on Enceladus.

(Image copyright NASA)

Are We Alone for 04/19/10 - Habitats Not For Humanity

Are We Alone - Habitats Not For Humanity

We place sharks in aquariums and elephants in zoos – to observe and conserve. But what if aliens have done the same to us? We’ll hear from Stephen King on a doomed result of a domed experiment - hatched by off-Earth beings, and why captivity may actually save some species on this planet.

Plus, you’re entering the Habitable Zone: which is the best bet for life elsewhere in the Solar System - Europa, Enceladus or Mars?

Guests:

• Stephen King - Novelist, author of Under the Dome: A Novel
• Jim Kasting - Geoscientist, Penn State University and author of How to Find a Habitable Planet (Science Essentials)
• Oliver Morton - Journalist, author of Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet
• John Fraser - Director for the Institute for Learning Innovations and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Hunter College CUNY
• Amanda Hendrix - Planetary Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Bob Pappalardo - Planetary Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org:80/episodes/Habitats_Not_For_Humanity

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.