Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology => Topic started by: evan_au on 25/11/2020 10:19:40
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Astrobiologists would love to have a space mission to explore the ice moons of Enceledus (circling Saturn) and Ganymede (circling Jupiter).
These moons have a liquid water ocean beneath their thick icy shell. But to get to the liquid ocean, you would need a big drilling rig. (...where is Bruce Willis when you need him?)
However, the rings of Saturn may be the remnants of an icy moon which was tidally disrupted after drifting too close to Saturn(?)
So if life ever existed there, whatever used to live deep in the ocean is now frozen into the surface of the icebergs circling Saturn, much more easily accessible! A laser sampler could look for evidence of organic chemicals frozen into these iceblocks. A hammer could extract samples for closer investigation.
Of course, that space mission would need to compete for funds with a mission to study organic chemicals from the "Tiger Stripes" of Enceladus.
https://science.nasa.gov/fresh-tiger-stripes-saturns-enceladus
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I do not think so Evan. They are 99. 9 percent water and are losing mass to the solar wind, as such any moon that they where formed from thus had a content of near pure water, no rock or other means of a catalyst for life, pretty much like mimas.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimas_(moon)
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I seriously doubt it. But if you look closely, you will see a crack(or a peek) in nature. Rings are helical......like stripes on a hula hoop. Planets have a helical pitch of 1 turn. Rings have multiple turns.
We need to determine the crossover and the reason. In other words, what component decides the number of turns. Having and using non decaying orbits would be handy.
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However, the rings of Saturn may be the remnants of an icy moon which was tidally disrupted after drifting too close to Saturn(?)
So if life ever existed there, whatever used to live deep in the ocean is now frozen into the surface of the icebergs circling Saturn, much more easily accessible! A laser sampler could look for evidence of organic chemicals frozen into these iceblocks. A hammer could extract samples for closer investigation.
A very interesting suggestion. But how do you target the probe? Saturn's rings must contain billions of circulating "iceblocks". Wouldn't this extreme multiplicity of possible targets, make it very difficult to get a probe to zero-in on any one of them?
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Wouldn't this extreme multiplicity of possible targets, make it very difficult to get a probe to zero-in on any one of them?
If you place an orbiter at the right radius and speed, it will be stationary relative to the ice blocks.
- It can then duck in and collect a sample of ice from the nearest block for imaging and chemical analysis
- and a larger ice sample to be dissociated and stored as fuel to move it on to the next block to be sampled
Sampling a variety of the rings would be a good idea, as well as imaging some of the "shepherd moons".