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from the life-will-find-a-way,-but-will-we-find-a-way-to-find-life? dept.
Saturn's icy moon Enceladus is best known for its numerous geysers ejecting plumes of water and ice. These eruptive fountains perplex researchers searching for signs of microbial life beyond Earth. A dedicated spacecraft designed to study the plume-like features spewing from Enceladus could definitely tell us whether or not they contain alien microorganisms.
"We need a spacecraft to travel to Enceladus, fly through a geyser plume, and analyze the water that is immediately accessible," Geoffrey Marcy, a retired professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, told Astrowatch.net.
Marcy is a renowned exoplanet researcher who discovered many extrasolar worlds. He was one of the co-investigators of NASA's Kepler planet-hunting mission that detected more than 4,000 exoworlds.
...
"The remarkable aspect of the search for microbes in the water spurting from geysers is that the spacecraft only needs to fly through the plume, well above the surface of Enceladus. No lander is needed—just a succession of flybys through the plumes as it orbits Enceladus," Marcy said.He noted that such spacecraft should be fitted with a mass spectrometer to detect organic compounds that could be signs of microbial life. The spectrometer will look for amino acids and the structure of any organic molecules, especially fatty acids such as those composing cell membranes. It could also measure the relative amounts of isotopes of carbon (12 and 14) to detect non-natural anomalies due to biological processes.
Moreover, the mission to Enceladus would measure the properties of the water such as pH, oxidation and temperature, therefore assessing its suitability for organic life.
Marcy believes assembling "a brilliant team of billionaires" is the key to making such a mission possible. Lucky for him the monolith said nothing about Enceladus.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 25 2017, @08:42AM (19 children)
The mission could ONLY detect microbial life, if microbial life exists there. Searching for microbial life on Enceladus could prove to be equivalent to searching for a weeping willow tree in the Mojave.
Seems a little silly to fly a fragile craft through a water plume, anyway. How do you predict how much water will erupt from the geyser, or how high you should fly, to prevent being knocked out? Ehhh - I'm sure it can be done, but expect to lose some ships along the way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 25 2017, @10:54AM (16 children)
Yes, it will be difficult. But isn't finding any form of extraterrestrial life the first step towards moving Man Kind away from religion governing the majority of its decisions? Sure, it will be a slow leak in the balloon of religious beliefs, but it will open enough eyes that it will be the start of the end of unofficial theocracies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 25 2017, @11:55AM (1 child)
No, they will just attempt to preach to the heathen microbes about the second coming of Jizzus.
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Sunday June 25 2017, @03:24PM
If only!!
I'd contribute to a kickstarter to send the religious nuts to preach whatever and whomever they want on Enceladus.
I'd even don't care if they'd do it on Pluto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 25 2017, @12:36PM
As I see it, how much disappointment are you willing to experience in your life? The answer to your question is "no". Religion has nothing to do with extraterrestrial life (and you may note that we already have an explicit ET meme in some modern religions like Scientology) so it won't be affected by the eventual discovery of extraterrestrial life except as a near-trivial incorporation of that discovery into their religious doctrines and efforts.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 25 2017, @01:59PM (12 children)
Speaking of silly, that question is pretty silly as well.
Let us presume that there really is a God, who created life on earth. Is there anything in any Holy Book that precludes the possibility that God ALSO created life in other places? Uhhhh - no, finding life, any type of life at all, will most definitely NOT convince anyone, anywhere, that there is no God.
Far more likely that the failure to find life anywhere else would convince the religious that their beliefs are really for real.
And, that doesn't even begin to take into account the various interpretations of where God lives, or his heavenly host, or where man's spirit is supposed to reside in the afterlife or next life.
There have been many Sci-Fi stories which have explored the idea of religion in the solar system, religion in the galaxy, and religion in the wider universe. Read some David Drake - he envisions that mankind will still be fighting over religion on any new planets we settle. He wrote one story about a war being fought, based on a disagreement about what color some silly religious bauble should be. Flags, insignia, armbands, even civilian clothing marked the believers on each side. White or red? And, I can't even remember what the stupid bauble was, I only remember offhand that it was either red or white.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 25 2017, @09:34PM (7 children)
Hey, it's Runaway!
Of course it is! How could it be otherwise? Infallable word of God, vs. science! What could possibly go wrong? Except Islam, that is not a science.
I would rather not. You're hurting me, Runaway!
Ummm, maybe not, but it is kind of like finding out you have a bunch of half-brothers and sisters in a secret family that Dad kind of neglected to ever mention . . . Bastard said we were special!
So, let me get this straight: discover life, they still believe in the Magical Sky Fairie; discover NO like, they still believe in Magical Sky Faerie. Are you saying that facts and evidence just do not matter to Congressional Republicans and religious types?
And, finally, the silly answer. Nobody is talking about where god lives, or where he keeps his "host", or, what the heck is "spirit", anyway? After/next life? You left out Underworld and Kate Beckingsale.
Tru, dat.
And true this even more is.
I feel so much better after Runaway has cleared up all the silliness. Compared to the technical difficulties of piloting a space craft through water-jets, like the Star-Lord in the opening sequence of the "Guardians of the Galaxy, Part One", the difficulties posed by religious silliness are truly insurmountable. As Schiller wrote, " "Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens". And hey, there is even a Science Fiction story!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Themselves [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 26 2017, @12:12AM (6 children)
Very good, little AC, you are familiar with one of Asimov's stories. And, did Asimov establish that space travel would put an end to religion? A simple yes or no would do very nicely here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 26 2017, @01:02AM (5 children)
No, it would not. Little, tiny-handed Runaway. Your post is completely off-topic. A simple "failure to respond" would do even more nicely here. Can you do that, Runaway? Well, punk, can ya?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 26 2017, @04:00AM (4 children)
Eat my shorts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 26 2017, @08:49AM (3 children)
Cannot! Too little! I knew you could not help but respond, oh Runaway of very little brain! Now, tell me what you think of this post! The power of Christ compels you! The power of, oh, fuck it, you just can't help yourself, can you?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 26 2017, @09:46AM (2 children)
I respond once more, just to see how goofy your own response can be. You won't let a sleeping dog lie, why should I? Kick that bitch again!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 27 2017, @06:52AM (1 child)
Runaway, this is God. Your comments account for 23.76% of the comments on SoylentNews. In terms of actual information and insight, your comments account for .08%. Do you see a slight discrepancy here? As God, I would appreciate it if you brought these two numbers closer together. You, personally, are throwing off the harmony of creation. Thank you. --Your God
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday June 27 2017, @01:58PM
Fifty some years ago, I prayed for a pony. You didn't deliver. Now, piss off.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 26 2017, @03:42AM (3 children)
Why did god take multiple days to create the earth and a single day to create the rest of the cosmos? Was he slacking off?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday June 26 2017, @04:01AM (2 children)
The story of creation, as narrated in the Bible, is only concerned with the earth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 26 2017, @07:23AM (1 child)
Oh?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 26 2017, @07:26AM
PS: The "original" bible text was copy/pasted from the Enuma Elish and saw generations of gods turned into days of work.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 25 2017, @12:41PM
I imagine they'll start by making the craft less fragile.
Put it in orbit, then you can do multiple passes until the eventual knockout happens. The real problem is that if there is life, you have a potential avenue for Earth-based contamination since the craft is destined to be bits and pieces on the surface of Enceladus. That plus the precautionary principle means someone will always be eternally opposed to such a mission.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Sunday June 25 2017, @01:45PM
It has already been done. At Enceladus, even!
https://www.space.com/30944-nasa-cassini-saturn-moon-enceladus-flyby.html [space.com]
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/teachable-moment-flying-by-saturns-moon-enceladus/ [nasa.gov]
From this recent article, we know there is some variance in plume sizes, but even if the plume is double the height, it's not like spraying a high powered hose at the spacecraft:
Hydrogen Emitted by Enceladus, More Evidence of Plumes at Europa [soylentnews.org]
The problem is not flying a spacecraft through a plume, the problem is having the right conditions and sensors on the spacecraft to detect biological material. Maybe even do a little DNA sequencing on-board.
It's unclear whether flying through plumes would be enough. You may have to drill into the ocean instead, which could be many $billions harder. But great for the thirsty astronauts of the future.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]