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Voyager 2 view of Enceladus in 1981: Samarkand Sulci vertical grooves (lower center); Ali Baba and Aladdin craters (upper left). Enceladus Life Finder (ELF) is a proposed astrobiology mission concept for a NASA spacecraft intended to assess the habitability of the internal aquatic ocean of Enceladus, which is Saturn's sixth-largest moon [1] [2] of at least 146 total moons, and seemingly ...
Planetary habitability in the Solar System is the study that searches the possible existence of past or present extraterrestrial life in those celestial bodies. As exoplanets are too far away and can only be studied by indirect means, the celestial bodies in the Solar System allow for a much more detailed study: direct telescope observation, space probes, rovers and even human spaceflight.
Thought to have a subsurface ocean maintained by geologic activity, tidal heating, and irradiation. [33] [34] The moon may have more water and oxygen than Earth and an oxygen exosphere. [35] Enceladus: Saturn: Enceladus – potential habitability: Thought to have a subsurface liquid water ocean due to tidal heating [36] or geothermal activity. [37]
The ocean is thought to have an overall temperature right around the freezing point of water. The ocean is thought to be between 5 million and 15 million years old.
Understanding planetary habitability is partly an extrapolation of the conditions on Earth, as this is the only planet known to support life.. Planetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to develop and maintain an environment hospitable to life. [1]
At such stage, Saturn's moon Titan would likely be habitable in Earth's temperature sense. [102] Given that this new equilibrium lasts for about 1 Gyr, and because life on Earth emerged by 0.7 Gyr from the formation of the Solar System at latest, life could conceivably develop on planetary mass objects in the habitable zone of red giants. [101]
The webpage also ranks what it describes as the habitability of planets and moons according to three criteria: the location in the habitable zone, ESI, and a speculation as to a capacity to sustain organisms at the bottom of the food chain, a different index collated on the webpage identified as the "Global Primary Habitability scale". [6]
A deep ocean exists beneath the icy, cratered surface of Saturn’s moon Mimas, according to a new analysis of data from NASA’s Cassini mission.