Why Is It So Difficult To Get To Enceladus?
368Enceladus is one of Saturn's moons. It is not the largest or closest to the planet, but it is one of the most important.
The reason is that underneath Enceladus' ice sheets is a massive ocean of water, which could not only be in a liquid state but could even have all the necessary conditions to support life.
However, although this natural satellite is very important for the search for extraterrestrial life, no spacecraft has landed on the surface of this moon so far.
So why haven't we sent any space missions to study this enigmatic moon in detail? Is it tough to get to Enceladus?
First Missions
The first spacecraft to take sharp images of Enceladus were the famous Voyager 1 and 2 probes in the 1980s.
Geysers Off Earth
After the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, scientists had to wait more than 20 years for a new spacecraft to revisit Saturn.
Origin of the E ring
The images of the geysers on Enceladus helped answer many questions, one of which was the influence this moon had on the rings.
Since the discoveries made by the Voyager probes, it has been known that this moon interacts in some way with Saturn's E ring.
An ocean of temperate, liquid water
As we mentioned earlier, Enceladus is in Orbital Resonance with Dione, another moon of Saturn; this synchrony around a planet causes the satellite closest to the planet to experience enormous tidal forces internally caused by the stretching and contraction of the gravitational forces of the objects with which it is synchronized.
Enceladus Habitability
For years, scientists wondered if Enceladus' ocean might have the conditions for living things to live inside. Still, they could not know for sure without a sample of water from Enceladus' inner ocean, so they devised a way to obtain it with the help of the Cassini spacecraft.
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Credits: Ron Miller, Mark A. Garlick / MarkGarlick.com ,Elon Musk/SpaceX/ Flickr
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00:00 Intro
1:50 First Missions
3:56 Geysers Off Earth
Origin of the E-ring
7:48 An ocean of temperate, quid water
10:42 Enceladus Habitability
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