Science Objectives for Flagship-Class Mission Concepts for the Search for Evidence of Life at Enceladus
Cassini revealed that Saturn's Moon Enceladus hosts a subsurface ocean that meets the accepted criteria for habitability with bio-essential elements and compounds, liquid water, and energy sources available in the environment. Whether these conditions are sufficiently abundant and collocated to...
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Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9233532/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35290745 https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2425 |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:9233532 2023-05-15T18:22:43+02:00 Science Objectives for Flagship-Class Mission Concepts for the Search for Evidence of Life at Enceladus MacKenzie, Shannon M. Neveu, Marc Davila, Alfonso F. Lunine, Jonathan I. Cable, Morgan L. Phillips-Lander, Charity M. Eigenbrode, Jennifer L. Waite, J. Hunter Craft, Kate L. Hofgartner, Jason D. McKay, Chris P. Glein, Christopher R. Burton, Dana Kounaves, Samuel P. Mathies, Richard A. Vance, Steven D. Malaska, Michael J. Gold, Robert German, Christopher R. Soderlund, Krista M. Willis, Peter Freissinet, Caroline McEwen, Alfred S. Brucato, John Robert de Vera, Jean-Pierre P. Hoehler, Tori M. Heldmann, Jennifer 2022-06-01 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9233532/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35290745 https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2425 en eng Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9233532/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35290745 http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2425 © Shannon M. MacKenzie et al., 2022; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. CC-BY Astrobiology Research Articles Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2425 2022-07-03T00:46:43Z Cassini revealed that Saturn's Moon Enceladus hosts a subsurface ocean that meets the accepted criteria for habitability with bio-essential elements and compounds, liquid water, and energy sources available in the environment. Whether these conditions are sufficiently abundant and collocated to support life remains unknown and cannot be determined from Cassini data. However, thanks to the plume of oceanic material emanating from Enceladus’ south pole, a new mission to Enceladus could search for evidence of life without having to descend through kilometers of ice. In this article, we outline the science motivations for such a successor to Cassini, choosing the primary science goal to be determining whether Enceladus is inhabited and assuming a resource level equivalent to NASA's Flagship-class missions. We selected a set of potential biosignature measurements that are complementary and orthogonal to build a robust case for any life detection result. This result would be further informed by quantifications of the habitability of the environment through geochemical and geophysical investigations into the ocean and ice shell crust. This study demonstrates that Enceladus’ plume offers an unparalleled opportunity for in situ exploration of an Ocean World and that the planetary science and astrobiology community is well equipped to take full advantage of it in the coming decades. Text South pole PubMed Central (PMC) South Pole Astrobiology 22 6 685 712 |
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Research Articles MacKenzie, Shannon M. Neveu, Marc Davila, Alfonso F. Lunine, Jonathan I. Cable, Morgan L. Phillips-Lander, Charity M. Eigenbrode, Jennifer L. Waite, J. Hunter Craft, Kate L. Hofgartner, Jason D. McKay, Chris P. Glein, Christopher R. Burton, Dana Kounaves, Samuel P. Mathies, Richard A. Vance, Steven D. Malaska, Michael J. Gold, Robert German, Christopher R. Soderlund, Krista M. Willis, Peter Freissinet, Caroline McEwen, Alfred S. Brucato, John Robert de Vera, Jean-Pierre P. Hoehler, Tori M. Heldmann, Jennifer Science Objectives for Flagship-Class Mission Concepts for the Search for Evidence of Life at Enceladus |
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Research Articles |
description |
Cassini revealed that Saturn's Moon Enceladus hosts a subsurface ocean that meets the accepted criteria for habitability with bio-essential elements and compounds, liquid water, and energy sources available in the environment. Whether these conditions are sufficiently abundant and collocated to support life remains unknown and cannot be determined from Cassini data. However, thanks to the plume of oceanic material emanating from Enceladus’ south pole, a new mission to Enceladus could search for evidence of life without having to descend through kilometers of ice. In this article, we outline the science motivations for such a successor to Cassini, choosing the primary science goal to be determining whether Enceladus is inhabited and assuming a resource level equivalent to NASA's Flagship-class missions. We selected a set of potential biosignature measurements that are complementary and orthogonal to build a robust case for any life detection result. This result would be further informed by quantifications of the habitability of the environment through geochemical and geophysical investigations into the ocean and ice shell crust. This study demonstrates that Enceladus’ plume offers an unparalleled opportunity for in situ exploration of an Ocean World and that the planetary science and astrobiology community is well equipped to take full advantage of it in the coming decades. |
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Text |
author |
MacKenzie, Shannon M. Neveu, Marc Davila, Alfonso F. Lunine, Jonathan I. Cable, Morgan L. Phillips-Lander, Charity M. Eigenbrode, Jennifer L. Waite, J. Hunter Craft, Kate L. Hofgartner, Jason D. McKay, Chris P. Glein, Christopher R. Burton, Dana Kounaves, Samuel P. Mathies, Richard A. Vance, Steven D. Malaska, Michael J. Gold, Robert German, Christopher R. Soderlund, Krista M. Willis, Peter Freissinet, Caroline McEwen, Alfred S. Brucato, John Robert de Vera, Jean-Pierre P. Hoehler, Tori M. Heldmann, Jennifer |
author_facet |
MacKenzie, Shannon M. Neveu, Marc Davila, Alfonso F. Lunine, Jonathan I. Cable, Morgan L. Phillips-Lander, Charity M. Eigenbrode, Jennifer L. Waite, J. Hunter Craft, Kate L. Hofgartner, Jason D. McKay, Chris P. Glein, Christopher R. Burton, Dana Kounaves, Samuel P. Mathies, Richard A. Vance, Steven D. Malaska, Michael J. Gold, Robert German, Christopher R. Soderlund, Krista M. Willis, Peter Freissinet, Caroline McEwen, Alfred S. Brucato, John Robert de Vera, Jean-Pierre P. Hoehler, Tori M. Heldmann, Jennifer |
author_sort |
MacKenzie, Shannon M. |
title |
Science Objectives for Flagship-Class Mission Concepts for the Search for Evidence of Life at Enceladus |
title_short |
Science Objectives for Flagship-Class Mission Concepts for the Search for Evidence of Life at Enceladus |
title_full |
Science Objectives for Flagship-Class Mission Concepts for the Search for Evidence of Life at Enceladus |
title_fullStr |
Science Objectives for Flagship-Class Mission Concepts for the Search for Evidence of Life at Enceladus |
title_full_unstemmed |
Science Objectives for Flagship-Class Mission Concepts for the Search for Evidence of Life at Enceladus |
title_sort |
science objectives for flagship-class mission concepts for the search for evidence of life at enceladus |
publisher |
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9233532/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35290745 https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2425 |
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South Pole |
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South Pole |
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South pole |
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South pole |
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Astrobiology |
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9233532/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35290745 http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2425 |
op_rights |
© Shannon M. MacKenzie et al., 2022; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. |
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CC-BY |
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https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2425 |
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Astrobiology |
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