It has taken seven years of research, but members of the Cassini space orbiter team are fairly confident that Saturn’s moon Enceladus is an active water world.
- Cassini launched nearly 20 years ago from Cape Canaveral AFS
- It and Huygens probe have been sending back data from Saturn
- Researchers now confident Saturn moon Enceladus has active water
- RELATED: Cassini: Mission to Saturn from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab
The water is located beneath its icy crust.
Geysers of water have been observed on Enceladus by Cassini, and there is a slight wobble as it orbits Saturn. The wobble is only possible if there is liquid water and not just ice, like at the surface.
This information didn’t come easy. It took years of research and a lot of math and physics for the team to be confident in their findings. After running simulations, the research team determined the only way the moon could wobble like that is if there is a layer of liquid separating the moon’s surface from the icy crust.
There are still plenty of questions to be answered about Enceladus. How has it maintained a liquid ocean for so long? One theory is that because of the strong gravitational pull of Saturn, the tidal forces produce more heat than expected within the moon. Orbiter missions can answer many new questions, but NASA is also thinking about sending a spacecraft to land on the moon in 2021.
Cassini launched from a Titan IVB rocket on Oct. 15, 1997, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In April, it will begin the final portion of its mission to explore Saturn.