Tag: NASA cassini spacecraft

The News From Saturn

Saturn has certainly been seen in the news a lot as of late. And you have the Cassini space probe, which was deployed from Earth back in 1997, to thank for all of that. Having completed the first leg of its mission back in 2008, its mission was extended to 2010, when most of the new photos and startling discoveries that are now being announced were made. Now, the healthy spacecraft is seeking to make exciting new discoveries in a second extended mission called the Cassini Solstice Mission.

But alas, the news! First, there was the announcement back in February that Saturn’s two largest moons – Titan and Rhea – were captured together in the same photo by the Cassini space probe. Considering that Saturn has 66 moons and Cassini was flying past at the time, this was no small accomplishment! What’s more, Titan’s atmosphere, which is fully developed (the only Saturnine moon to have this) was captured perfectly the shot.

But the news didn’t stop there. Shortly thereafter, in March to be specific, a report published in the Geophysical Research Letters announced that a thin layer of oxygen was discovered around Saturn’s moon of Dione. Once again, this discovery was made by the Cassini space probe as it passed by this other satellite of Saturn’s two years ago. This finding is proving to be quite the exciting one within the astronomical community.

Shortly after that, NASA announced that the moon of Enceladus did indeed have its own ocean. Named the Enceladan Ocean, this natural body of water has been known about for some time, but what is now known is the water contains carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, potassium salts and other organic materials. On top of that, it is now understood that it is situated above some volcanic jets, which means the water is most likely warm. Warm water, combined with organic minerals, makes the Enceladan Ocean a good candidate for life!

And then, in late July, images released by NASA showed that Cassini also caught a glimpse of a thunderstorm happening on Saturn’s surface. As all residents of Earth will surely agree, a thunderstorm is an impressive sight to behold. Especially when it’s seen happening on another planet! Apparently, what made this sighting most impressive was that it was visible on Saturn’s day side – aka. in broad daylight – from a range of 4.5 million km (2 million miles). That’s one humungous light show!

And less than a week ago, more information emerged as a result of the Cassini space probe, this time in relation to Saturn’s moon of Iapetus. After getting a good glimpse of the moon, scientists at NASA have determined that it is home to the largest ice avalanches in the Solar System, and is rivaled only by Mars. Take that Mount Everest! You too Olympus Mons!

Already, scientists had Iapetus pegged as the most intriguing moon in the Solar System. For starters, it has a Ying-Yang color pattern, looks like an inverted Death Star (check that image, no Photoshopping!), and has a long ridge running almost perfectly along Iapetus’ equator, a feature which earned it the nickname “the walnut moon”. I guess it wasn’t happy with just that, it also wanted to be the most dangerous place to downhill ski!

And you thought Jupiter did some badass things. Well, it does. But judging from all these findings, Saturn is going to be a pretty happening place someday. I can envision settlements on Titan, skiing on Iapetus, and terraforming on Dione. And for those who like to sight-see, there will be shuttle services that take you to the dark side of Saturn to witness the light show from space. Ooooh, I got goose bumps!

Via: BBC, IO9, Nature Geoscience, CICOPS, Time Science, and NASA

Titan’s Tropical Methane Lakes!

Recently, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft did a fly-by of Saturn and noticed something unexpected on its largest moon of Titan. In the so-called tropical area of the moon, where temperatures rise to a high point of −179 °C (or −290 °F), it appears that there are lakes of liquid methane. This is a surprise to scientists who previously assumed that liquid bodies could only exist near the poles.

Appropriately, this region is known as Shangri La, which appears to have some dark areas which showed up on Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer. One of the tropical lakes appears to be the size of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, and features a depth of at least one meter. When asked where these lakes came from, Caitlin Griffith – a Cassini team associate at the University of Arizona – speculated that the lake is being fed from an underground aquifer. “In essence,” she says, “Titan may have oases.”

Knowing about these lakes and where they come from is an important step to understand how weather works on Titan. Whereas the Earth has a “hydrological cycle” (aka. a water cycle), Titan has a “methane” cycle, where methane is circulating rather than water. What’s more, ultraviolet light is able to pierce through Titan’s atmosphere, causing it to break the methane apart on contact. This in turn results in a complicated chain of organic chemical reactions.

These finds are significant for two reasons. For one, it means that life might actually exist on Saturn’s largest moon. The chemical reactions in question involving UV light and methane gas might very well be able to produce organic molecules such as amino acids, the building blocks of life. And second, it could mean the planet would be a suitable candidate for terraforming some day. Liquid methane might not be suitable for humans, but with the right kind of equipment and chemical know-how, it could be converted into water and water vapor without much trouble.

Or we could simply use it as is, pumping it out as fuel. On the other hand, who’s to say we shouldn’t just sit back and watch the life grow. In a few million years, assuming humanity is still alive, Titan may very well join other moons like Europe is producing native life that will emerge from the primordial soups and look out at the stars. And if they then reach out, they might just find us in the mood to share with them. Who knows? It’s the prospects that are exciting!

Source: I09 Magazine.