this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
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Phosphorous detection strengthens case for Enceladus’ habitability – Astronomy Now (astronomynow.com)
submitted 1 year ago by freeman@lemmy.pub to c/space@beehaw.org
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Researchers studying archived data from NASA’s Cassini probe have detected high concentrations of phosphorous in salt-rich ices spewing from the cracked crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The data strengthen the case for a habitable environment in an ocean below the world’s frozen surface.

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[–] worfamerryman@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I can’t wait until missions for these places are launched. I have high hopes that we find life in some form.

If we don’t at least find some microbes, I’ll be disappointed.

I do not expect intelligence of any kind, but imagine what it would mean if we found bacteria, or even some kind of plant life.

What would life that evolved on another planet even be like.

If it similar or vastly different, it will still be a huge discovery.

[–] freeman@lemmy.pub 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Same. It would be crazy if we found bacterial life within our system.

I mean some of the smartest species we know in cetaceans (whales/dolphins) and cephalopods (octopus/squid) live in the water. They have show self awareness, problem solving and even culture and language dialects (at least with orcas).

But heck, just some microscopic bugs would blow me away.

[–] worfamerryman@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can’t decide what would be more mind blowing.

  • we find life and it’s similar to life on earth.

Or

  • it’s wildly different.

I’d expect it to be different, but if it’s similar to life on earth, would that mean that there was a similar origin of life or can there only be a few ways that life can actually evolve?

If we find life there, I expect it to be one of those things where we find it the first time, then we start finding it all over the place.

Anyway, even if nothing is there, I’m still really excited.

[–] freeman@lemmy.pub 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah agree. I recall a PBS spacetime episode that discussed the possibility of Silicone based life instead of Carbon based. I don’t think even our imagination could describe what’s out there. Like that Movie arrival with Jeremy Renner.

[–] zhunk@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

I'm hoping that the new class of super heavy lift rockets, along with distributed lift, will let us get small payloads to outer solar system destinations a lot faster and accelerate planetary science. Huge payloads to LEO are great, but so are small payloads with a ton of Delta-V.