How can the vents on Enceladus’ south pole influence the ice grains that are ejected into space? This is what a recent study published in Science Advances hopes to address as an international team of scientists investigated new methods for gaining insight into Enceladus’ subsurface ocean. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the conditions for finding life on Enceladus while narrowing the scope in the search for life beyond Earth.
For the study, the researchers analyzed data obtained from NASA’s now-retired Cassini spacecraft, specifically Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA), regarding the ice grains that Cassini analyzed when it flew through Enceladus’ plumes during its historic mission exploring Saturn and its many moons from 2004-2017. They also conducted laboratory experiments to simulate the conditions the ice grains underwent during their journey from Enceladus’ subsurface ocean to space. The primary motivation behind the study was to ascertain the chemical diversity of the ice grains analyzed by Cassini, meaning the compositions varied among the ice grains, as opposed to the ice grains having a similar composition if they all came from the same...