JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Solar System .

News From Saturn

Oct 08, 2008

Your browser cannot play the provided video file(s).

Cassini has two October flybys of Saturn's geyser moon Enceladus. The first will focus on figuring out the makeup of the moon's plume; the second will image fractures in the moon.

Transcript:

Hi!  My name is Katalin Herman at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. 
    
I'm a systems engineer on the spacecraft operations team for the Cassini mission to Saturn, here with the latest news from the ringed planet.

Cassini will be flying by Saturn's geyser-spewing moon, Enceladus, twice this month—on October 9th and on the 31st.

The first flyby on October 9th flyby will be the closest flyby in the entire mission!  We will bring the spacecraft down to just 16 miles, or 25 kilometers, from the surface.   The spacecraft will be flying through the plumes at the south pole, which jet icy water vapor hundreds of miles into space.

The emphasis in this flyby is not on taking pictures of the surface but on trying to figure out what’s in the plume. We’ll be taking the spacecraft deeper into the plume than ever before and analyzing the particles and gases that we find.

Scientists are intrigued by the possibility that liquid water, perhaps even an ocean, may exist beneath the surface of Enceladus, and trace amounts of organic molecules have also been detected. And these are the building blocks for life, as we know it, so this discovery raises tantalizing possibilities about whether the moon is habitable.

And then three weeks later, on Oct. 31st, the cameras and other optical remote sensing instruments will be primary, they’ll be front and center, to take pictures of the fractures that slash across the moon’s south polar region. The team calls them “tiger stripes” because of their appearance.  And this flyby will be about 10 times higher than the previous one, at 124 miles, or 200 kilometers.

We learn more and more about this intriguing place each time we fly by it.
          After the August 11 encounter, we learned that the temperatures over one of the tiger-stripe fractures were lower than those measured in earlier flybys. And results also suggest that the intensity of the plume was different when compared to earlier encounters. So the moon is changing over time.

After these two flybys, Cassini will get back to looking at Saturn’s biggest moon,Titan, coming up quickly on Nov. 3.  And as far as Enceladus goes, we won’t visit again until November of next year.

To keep up to date with the latest news from Cassini, please visit our website, “saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.”

That’s it for now, I’m Katalin Herman from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.

Download m4v

Related Pages

News .

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succeeds in Historic First Flight

News .

NASA to Attempt First Controlled Flight on Mars As Soon As Monday

News .

NASA’s Mars Helicopter to Make First Flight Attempt

News .

Probing for Life in the Icy Crusts of Ocean Worlds

News .

NASA’s Odyssey Orbiter Marks 20 Historic Years of Mapping Mars

News .

NASA’s First Weather Report From Jezero Crater on Mars

News .

NASA Invites Public to Take Flight With Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

News .

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Survives First Cold Martian Night on Its Own

Image .

Goldstone Radar Observations of Asteroid 2001 FO32

News .

NASA’s InSight Detects Two Sizable Quakes on Mars

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors of JPL
JPL History
Documentary Series
Virtual Tour
Annual Reports
Missions
All
Current
Past
Future
News
All
Earth
Mars
Solar System
Universe
Technology
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Infographics
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Engage
JPL and the Community
Lecture Series
Public Tours
Events
Team Competitions
JPL Speakers Bureau
Topics
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Stars and Galaxies
Exoplanets
Technology
JPL Life
For Media
Contacts and Information
Press Kits
More
Asteroid Watch
Robotics at JPL
Subscribe to Newsletter
Universe Newsletter
Social Media
RSS
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Manager: Veronica McGregor
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Randal Jackson, Naomi Hartono