Breaking on drudgereport.com: NASA to announce possible life in our own solar system!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Orlando Channel 13: Big NASA Announcement Set For Today... // NASA is planning to make a huge announcement today, about possible life in our own solar system...

http://www.drudgereport.com

NASA'S CASSINI DISCOVERS POTENTIAL LIQUID WATER ON ENCELADUS

Thu Mar 09 2006 11:21:33 ET

NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in Yellowstone-like geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The rare occurrence of liquid water so near the surface raises many new questions about the mysterious moon.

"We realize that this is a radical conclusion - that we may have evidence for liquid water within a body so small and so cold," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. "However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms."

High-resolution Cassini images show icy jets and towering plumes ejecting huge quantities of particles at high speed. Scientists examined several models to explain the process. They ruled out the idea the particles are produced or blown off the moon's surface by vapor created when warm water ice converts to a gas. Instead, scientists have found evidence for a much more exciting possibility. The jets might be erupting from near-surface pockets of liquid water above 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), like cold versions of the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone.

"We previously knew of at most three places where active volcanism exists: Jupiter's moon Io, Earth, and possibly Neptune's moon Triton. Cassini changed all that, making Enceladus the latest member of this very exclusive club, and one of the most exciting places in the solar system," said John Spencer, Cassini scientist, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder.

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"Other moons in the solar system have liquid-water oceans covered by kilometers of icy crust," said Andrew Ingersoll, imaging team member and atmospheric scientist at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. "What's different here is that pockets of liquid water may be no more than tens of meters below the surface."

"As Cassini approached Saturn, we discovered the Saturnian system is filled with oxygen atoms. At the time we had no idea where the oxygen was coming from," said Candy Hansen, Cassini scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena. "Now we know Enceladus is spewing out water molecules, which break down into oxygen and hydrogen."

Scientists still have many questions. Why is Enceladus so active? Are other sites on Enceladus active? Might this activity have been continuous enough over the moon's history for life to have had a chance to take hold in the moon's interior?

In the spring of 2008, scientists will get another chance to look at Enceladus when Cassini flies within 350 kilometers (approximately 220 miles), but much work remains after the spacecraft's four-year prime mission is over.

"There's no question, along with the moon Titan, Enceladus should be a very high priority for us. Saturn has given us two exciting worlds to explore," said Jonathan Lunine, Cassini interdisciplinary scientist, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.

Mission scientists report these and other Enceladus findings in this week's issue of Science.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash8na.htm

[almaty 19]

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Any with common sense working at NASA must be, eh?

[mawilson 2,133]

NASA is planning to make a huge announcement today, about possible life in our own solar system...

Duh.

[Scott & Lai 12]

It's a rather large leap from the presence of water and volcanism on Enceladus to the possibility of life existing there....

[almaty 19]

where there is water...there be life

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

It's a rather large leap from the presence of water and volcanism on Enceladus to the possibility of life existing there....

It's a rather large leap from the presence of water to the conclusion that there is life.

It is not a large leap to conclude that life may be possible based on the presence of water.

JMHO of course.

[I'm Gone 60]

Anything to stoke the fire for more budget money. Unless it's spewing out oil who giving a s**t.

[MichelleandCraig 1]

Just call the Doctor.(Who?) He'll tell us what's out there. (sorry, Craig got me hooked on it, OK???) M.