A Moon of Saturn Has a Sea, Scientists Say

The last paragraph is good writing.<p><i>The challenges are to make sure that the interesting particles would not break apart, to take precautions that any alien life would not infect Earth, and to fit it into the $500 million budget of one of NASA’s lower-cost planetary missions.</i><p>It frames it all beautifully. Engineering feats solving problems you don&#x27;t quite understand. Sci fi potential. Budgetary drudgery.

If there is an sea on Enceladus then there will already be microbial life there [0]. Microbes can survive for ages in space [1] and there are plenty of rocks moving from the earth and all of the other planets and moons of the solar system [0,2].<p>One of the more interesting stories about microbes in space is that some survived on the moon for almost three years inside a camera [3]. It is not 100% certain that the microbes cultured were not from later contamination, but I know from working with them that microbes are really tough and I can believe that they could have survived!<p>[0] <a href="http://users.tpg.com.au/horsts/transpermia.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;users.tpg.com.au&#x2F;horsts&#x2F;transpermia.html</a><p>[1] <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19854226" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pubmed&#x2F;19854226</a><p>[2] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Panspermia</a><p>[3] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reports_of_Streptococcus_mitis_on_the_Moon" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Reports_of_Streptococcus_mitis_...</a>

Cool shot of the ice jets from 2005: <a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091124.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;apod.nasa.gov&#x2F;apod&#x2F;ap091124.html</a><p>Plus NASA&#x27;s actual release about the sea: <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/03apr_deepocean/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;science.nasa.gov&#x2F;science-news&#x2F;science-at-nasa&#x2F;2014&#x2F;03...</a>

&quot;Dr. Tsou devised a way to capture comet particles and bring them back to Earth for NASA’s Stardust mission and has been suggesting a similar method for a spacecraft that would fly through Enceladus’ plumes and then return to Earth for scientists to examine.<p>The challenges are to make sure that the interesting particles would not break apart, to take precautions that any alien life would not infect Earth, and to fit it into the $500 million budget of one of NASA’s lower-cost planetary missions.&quot;<p>Why bring it back to earth? Wouldn&#x27;t it be safer &amp; less expensive to return it to ISS instead, (or is that what&#x27;s implied) ?<p>Didn&#x27;t know the carbon &amp; nitrogen part of the story, read the article thinking only 1 thing: &quot;when are you going to mention Europa&quot;.

This is amusingly relevant to my life:<p><i>Dr. McKay, who was not involved with gravity measurements, noted that only Enceladus was known to possess the four essential ingredients for life, at least as it exists on Earth: liquid water, energy, carbon and nitrogen.<p>“I would say it’s our best bet,” he said.<p>Mars has a dearth of nitrogen, found in amino acids and proteins, and the surface today is dry and cold. Europa, which also possesses an under-ice ocean, may have all of the ingredients, but that has not been confirmed.</i><p>Amusingly, I have Europa as a colony in a comic I write. In mentioning this elsewhere just now, a physicist has suggested this resource to me: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System_in_fiction#Comics_and_animation" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Solar_System_in_fiction#Comics_...</a><p>I shall have to learn yet more about our solar system so I can make up dumb bs for humor&#x27;s sake.<p>(Not that I expect anyone here to really care. I am just cracking up over this.)

&quot;They found that the moon’s gravity was weaker at the south pole. At first glance, that is not so surprising; there is a depression at the pole, and lower mass means less gravity. But the depression is so large that the gravity should actually have been weaker.&quot;<p>They found the gravity was weaker.. but it should actually have been weaker. So is it weaker or stronger?

Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

why did you not just say Enceladus? Surely HN doesn&#x27;t need reductionist titles.

&quot;All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there. Oh, and stay off Enceladus too.&quot;<p>Doesn&#x27;t quite have the same ring to it.