Enceladus as a potential oasis for life: Science goals and investigations for future explorations

Gaël Choblet (1) , Gabriel Tobie (1) , Arnaud Buch (2) , Ondrej Čadek (3) , Laura Barge (4) , Marie Bēhounková (3) , Eloi Camprubi (5) , Caroline Freissinet (6) , Matt Hedman (7) , Geraint Jones (8) , Valery Lainey (9) , Alice Le Gall (6) , Alice Lucchetti (10) , Shannon Mackenzie (11) , Giuseppe Mitri (12, 13) , Marc Neveu (14) , Francis Nimmo (15) , Karen Olsson-Francis (16) , Mark Panning (4) , Frank Postberg (17) , Joachim Saur (18) , Jürgen Schmidt (19) , Yasuhito Sekine (20) , Takazo Shibuya (21) , Christophe Sotin (4) , Ondrej Soucek (3) , Cyril Szopa (6) , Tomohiro Usui (22) , Steven Vance (4) , Tim van Hoolst (23)

1 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique [UMR 6112]
2 LGPM - Laboratoire de Génie des Procédés et Matériaux
3 UK - Univerzita Karlova [Praha, Česká republika] = Charles University [Prague, Czech Republic]
4 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
5 Universiteit Utrecht / Utrecht University [Utrecht]
6 PLANETO - LATMOS
7 University of Idaho [Moscow, USA]
8 MSSL - Mullard Space Science Laboratory
9 Observatoire de Paris
10 OAPD - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
11 APL - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory [Laurel, MD]
12 IRSPS - International Research School of Planetary Sciences [Pescara]
13 Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia [Perugia]
14 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
15 UC Santa Cruz - University of California [Santa Cruz]
16 OU - The Open University [Milton Keynes]
17 Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
18 Universität zu Köln = University of Cologne
19 University of Oulu
20 ELSI - Earth-Life Science Institute [Tokyo]
21 JAMSTEC - Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
22 ISAS - Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
23 ROB - Royal Observatory of Belgium = Observatoire Royal de Belgique

Enceladus is the first planetary object for which direct sampling of a subsurface water reservoir, likely habitable, has been performed. Over a decade of flybys and seven flythroughs of its watery plume, the Cassini spacecraft determined that Enceladus possesses all the ingredients for life. The existence of active eruptions blasting fresh water into space, makes Enceladus the easiest target in the search for life elsewhere in the Solar System. Flying again through the plume with more advanced instruments, landing at the surface near active sources and collecting a sample for return to Earth are the natural next steps for assessing whether life emerges in this active world. Characterizing this habitable world also requires detailed mapping and monitoring of its tidally-induced activity, from the orbit as well as from the surface using complementary platforms. Such ambitious goals may be achieved in the future in the framework of ESA large or medium-class missions in partnership with other international agencies, in the same spirit of the successful Cassini-Huygens mission. For all these reasons, exploring habitable ocean worlds, with Enceladus as a primary target, should be a priority topic of the ESA Voyage 2050 programme.

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

Gaël Choblet, Gabriel Tobie, Arnaud Buch, Ondrej Čadek, Laura Barge, et al.. Enceladus as a potential oasis for life: Science goals and investigations for future explorations. Experimental Astronomy, 2021, ⟨10.1007/s10686-021-09808-7⟩. ⟨insu-03426143v1⟩