Life?

Saturn's Enceladus Could Support Life

Posted by Ty Colfax - Wednesday, December 17, 2008 3:13 PM

We've thought for a while that there might be a fighting chance for life on Enceladus, one of Saturn's many moons. Well, further evidence suggests that underneath the orb's icy outer crust, may just be an ocean harboring a chemical makeup similar to our own oceans.

A plume of material spurting into space through Enceladus' surface has been analyzed by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft which made a close fly-by in October of this year. The data suggests the plume us made up of liquid water, methane, carbon dioxide, and silicate dust.

Scientists have dropped hints about a mission that would unleash earthly microbes and organisms near the plume to see if they could survive, but there is no definite plan in place for this. I say, take a few cockroaches. They'll be 25 feet long and ruling Saturn from Enceladus in no time.

And before you go packing up your stuff in preparation for your new home beyond the asteroid belt, just remember Enceladus has a mere radius of 160 miles and would easily fit inside the State of Texas. Not enough room for all of us, unfortunately.

Neo did notice the north hemisphere is pitted with impact craters and the south to the polar region is not. I do wonder why that is.
Although I did not write this article I did read it (duh) .... Quite a geographically active word for being so small.