Science objectives for flagship-class mission concepts for the search for evidence of life at Enceladus
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Cassini revealed that Saturn's Moon Enceladus hosts a subsurface ocean that meets the accepted criteria for habitability with bio-essential elements and compounds, liquid water, and energy sources available in the environment. Whether these conditions are sufficiently abundant and collocated to support life remains unknown and cannot be determined from Cassini data. However, thanks to the plume of oceanic material emanating from Enceladus’ south pole, a new mission to Enceladus could search for evidence of life without having to descend through kilometers of ice. In this article, we outline the science motivations for such a successor to Cassini, choosing the primary science goal to be determining whether Enceladus is inhabited and assuming a resource level equivalent to NASA's Flagship-class missions. We selected a set of potential biosignature measurements that are complementary and orthogonal to build a robust case for any life detection result. This result would be further informed by quantifications of the habitability of the environment through geochemical and geophysical investigations into the ocean and ice shell crust. This study demonstrates that Enceladus’ plume offers an unparalleled opportunity for in situ exploration of an Ocean World and that the planetary science and astrobiology community is well equipped to take full advantage of it in the coming decades.
Date Issued
2022-06
Date Acceptance
2022-01-21
Citation
Astrobiology, 2022, 22 (6), pp.685-712
ISSN
1531-1074
Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert
Start Page
685
End Page
712
Journal / Book Title
Astrobiology
Volume
22
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© Shannon M. MacKenzie et al., 2022; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
the Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000779141300001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=a2bf6146997ec60c407a63945d4e92bb
Subjects
AMINO-ACIDS
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Biology
CAPILLARY-ELECTROPHORESIS
CARBONACEOUS CHONDRITES
CITY HYDROTHERMAL FIELD
Enceladus
GEOCHEMICAL CONSTRAINTS
Geology
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Habitability
HYPERVELOCITY IMPACTS
Life detection
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics
MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES
Mission
MONOCARBOXYLIC ACIDS
ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS
Physical Sciences
Science & Technology
SOUTH-POLE
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2022-06-08