Is it the most likely place to look for life in the solar system? I know that Carolyn Porco thinks so. Or at least that it’s a better prospect than Europa. Plus, we haven’t been warned to attempt no landings there.
It’s obviously a lot harder mission than Europa, but it seems like going to Europa to look for life instead of Enceladus is like the guy who went to a different block to look for his lost car keys because the light was better there.
We will find life when we find it. The best way to speed up that process is to enlarge our economic sphere. It’s time to colonize.
Not sure that it’s harder to get to Enceladus than Europa. These days i’d expect any mission to have ion thrusters to get there, as the dV budget is large for either mission.
Not sure this is accurate, but this seems to indicate getting to Europe is EXPENSIVE, maybe more than Enceladus
http://i.imgur.com/SqdzxzF.png
I didn’t see a delta V budget for getting to Europe…
Though a quick calculation shows it to actually be on the order of 46,320 feet/sec (total impulse over the flight duration, divided by the airplane mass).
C’mon, when you are plowing through the atmosphere at subsonic speeds with an “airbreather”, 46,320 feet/sec total impulse doesn’t mean what you think it does.
What are the chances that NASA would design equipment that could be used to investigate Europa, Enceladus, and maybe Ceres?
The pictures of Enceladus are certainly astounding, as are the views of it spewing water to form one of the rings of Saturn. But what I find even more astounding is how they figured out that ring was called the “E ring.” I mean, how amazing is that?!?!?
I know, right?!
You mean the E ring has life in it? Those brown stains are only the dregs of badly brewed coffee.
But does the patriarchy hate Enceladus?
Of course, it does. They just haven’t figured out how to nuke Enceladus yet.
I say we go to both.
There are at least a couple proposed missions which would cover Enceladus in the pipeline. I hope at least one gets greenlit.