Enceladus plumes and internal ocean
Géiseres de Encélado y su océano interno
- Date
- 2005 · confidence high
- Place
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, United States
- Credited to
- Cassini probe team (Carolyn Porco, Michele Dougherty)
- Field
- Movement
What was discovered
Cassini saw jets of ice and vapour erupting from Enceladus's south pole, containing salts, silica and organic molecules, which feed Saturn's E ring and reveal a potentially habitable inner ocean.
NASA/ESA/ASI mission; controlled from JPL.
What it led to
- Enceladus as a priority astrobiology target
- Hydrothermal chemistry beyond Earth
- Proposals for an Enceladus Orbilander mission