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    Cassini spacecraft tagged posts

    Boiling oceans may lurk beneath the ice of solar system’s smallest moons

    November 26, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Looking inside icy moons
    Saturn’s moon Mimas, imaged by the Cassini spacecraft. A new study shows how such small ice moons could sustain a liquid ocean beneath an icy shell, and how that could give rise to surface features. Credit: By NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute – This image or video was catalogued by Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: PIA12570., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10371541

    The outer planets of the solar system are swarmed by ice-wrapped moons. Some of these, such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus, are known to have oceans of liquid water between the ice shell and the rocky core and could be the best places in our solar system to look for extraterrestrial life...

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    Saturn’s icy moon may host a stable ocean fit for life

    November 11, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Enceladus heat transfer infographic
    A new study has constrained the Enceladus’ global conductive heat flow by studying its seasonal temperature variations at its north pole (yellow). These results, when combined with existing ones of its highly active south polar region (red) provide the first observational constraint of Enceladus’ energy loss budget (<54 GW) – which is consistent with the predicted energy input (50 to 55 GW) from tidal heating. This implies Enceladus’ current activity is sustainable in the long term – an important prerequisite for the evolution of life, which is thought possible to exist in its global sub-surface ocean. Image credit: University of Oxford/NASA/JPL-CalTech/Space Science Institute (PIA19656 and PIA11141)

    A new study led by researchers from Oxford University, Southwest Research I...

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    Researcher Helps Identify New Evidence for Habitability in Ocean of Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

    September 20, 2022, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Enceladus logo graphic
    SwRI Lead Scientist Dr. Christopher Glein contributed to new findings that phosphorus in the form of orthophosphate (e.g., HPO4-2) is likely abundant in the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

    The search for extraterrestrial life has just become more interesting as a team of scientists, including Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Christopher Glein, has discovered new evidence for a key building block for life in the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. New modeling indicates that Enceladus’s ocean should be relatively rich in dissolved phosphorus, an essential ingredient for life.

    “Enceladus is one of the prime targets in humanity’s search for life in our solar system,” said Glein, a leading expert in extraterrestrial oceanography...

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    Cassini Finds ‘The Big Empty’ Close to Saturn

    May 2, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Cassini finds 'The Big Empty' close to Saturn

    NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is shown diving through the gap between Saturn and its rings in this artist’s depiction. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    As Cassini spacecraft prepares to shoot the narrow gap between Saturn and its rings for the second time in its Grand Finale, Cassini engineers are delighted, while ring scientists are puzzled, that the region appears to be relatively dust-free. This assessment is based on data Cassini collected during its first dive through the region on April 26. With this information in hand, the Cassini team will now move forward with its preferred plan of science observations. “The region between the rings and Saturn is ‘the big empty,’ apparently,” said Cassini Project Manager Earl Maize of NASA’s JPL in Pasadena, California...

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