NASA Announcement Today

[Frogs]

Here is the link to the one story I was able to find on it..

http://cfnews13.com/StoryHeadline.aspx?id=13873

There sever seems to be getting hammered so while I have the story up I'll give the details here (its short).

NASA is planning to make a huge announcement today, about possible life in our own solar system.

Exact details of what we can expect to hear have not been released. We do know that evidence has been found that could point to life relatively close to the earth.

Official word is expected this afternoon at 2 p.m. We'll have complete coverage of today's big news when it is released. Tune to News 13 for the complete story.

[patstp]

Here is the link to the one story I was able to find on it..

http://cfnews13.com/StoryHeadline.aspx?id=13873

There sever seems to be getting hammered so while I have the story up I'll give the details here (its short).

Link doesn't work for me...

[dreamhunter]

same here.

[Yelekiah]

A server error. I'll look for the story though.

[Frogs]

Yeah - as I said, the site seems to be getting hammered. That's why I quoted the text of the article in the op.

I did find a little more - It is probably related to this.

Potential Liquid Water on Enceladus

[Cinders]

I think their web site is

http://www.cfnews13.com/ but currently showing SERVER TOO BUSY..

They are a News station out of Central Florida I believe....

Edited March 9, 2006 by Cinders

[Yelekiah]

Interesting find.

[patstp]

Yeah - as I said, the site seems to be getting hammered. That's why I quoted the text of the article in the op.

I did find a little more - It is probably related to this.

Potential Liquid Water on Enceladus

That's funny, i was looking at Saturn's satellites yesterday night, and i read this:

Enceladus [en-SELL-ah-dus] is one of the innermost moons of Saturn. It is quite similar in size to Mimas but has a smoother, brighter surface. Enceladus reflects almost 100 percent of the sunlight that strikes it. Unlike Mimas, Enceladus displays at least five different types of terrain. Parts of Enceladus shows craters no larger than 35 km in diameter. Other areas show regions with no craters indicating major resurfacing events in the geologically recent past. There are fissures, plains, corrugated terrain and other crustal deformations. All of this indicates that the interior of the moon may be liquid today, even though it should have frozen aeons ago. It is postulated that Enceladus is heated by a tidal mechanism similar to Jupiter's moon Io. It is perturbed in its orbit by Saturn's gravitational field and by the large neighboring satellites Tethys and Dione. Because Enceladus reflects so much sunlight, the surface temperature is only -201° C (-330° F).

But for life to develop in this environment (temperature) is unlikely...

LINK: http://www.solarviews.com/eng/enceladu.htm

Edited March 9, 2006 by patstp

[Essan]

Looks like they've changed it a bit, now reads:

NASA is planning to make an announcement about a new discovery.

Exact details of what we can expect to hear have not been released. Earlier reports about the announcement were not accurate.

Official word is expected this afternoon at 2 p.m. We'll have complete coverage of today's big news when it is released. Tune to News 13 for the complete story.

So, not life in the solar system after all...

No doubt the conspiracy freaks will have a filed day though

[Cinders]

I managed to get on the News site... here is a snap shot image of what Frogs is speaking about.. their site is VERY slow.

So around 2 PM EST we will hopefully hear updated news to this.. (looks like they updated this report from what they originally reported earlier on this site)

Edited March 9, 2006 by Cinders

[Unlimited]

hmmm cant wait til 2 ...maybe they are gonna announce life?

[Bella-Angelique]

Water finds are always good.

[speaker of the house]

Its posted on a local news affiliate...has something to do with jobs or a new plant opening i'm sure...

[DZ448]

Site is still offline. but only 20 minutes or so to go Hope they have some real news.

[patstp]

On CNN...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/03/09/e...r.ap/index.html

Seems to be it...

[Cinders]

On CNN...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/03/09/e...r.ap/index.html

Seems to be it...

yep.. and FINALLY NASA reports this on their web site (it was not there earlier today but is now)

Erica Hupp/Dwayne Brown

Headquarters, Washington

(202) 358-1237/1726

Carolina Martinez

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

(818) 354-9382

March 9, 2006

RELEASE: 06-088

NASA's Cassini Discovers Potential Liquid Water on Enceladus

NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs that erupt in Yellowstone-like geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The rare occurrence of liquid water so near the surface raises many new questions about the mysterious moon.

"We realize that this is a radical conclusion - that we may have evidence for liquid water within a body so small and so cold," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. "However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms."

High-resolution Cassini images show icy jets and towering plumes ejecting large quantities of particles at high speed. Scientists examined several models to explain the process. They ruled out the idea the particles are produced or blown off the moon's surface by vapor created when warm water ice converts to a gas. Instead, scientists have found evidence for a much more exciting possibility. The jets might be erupting from near-surface pockets of liquid water above 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), like cold versions of the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone.

"We previously knew of at most three places where active volcanism exists: Jupiter's moon Io, Earth, and possibly Neptune's moon Triton. Cassini changed all that, making Enceladus the latest member of this very exclusive club, and one of the most exciting places in the solar system," said John Spencer, Cassini scientist, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder.

"Other moons in the solar system have liquid-water oceans covered by kilometers of icy crust," said Andrew Ingersoll, imaging team member and atmospheric scientist at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. "What's different here is that pockets of liquid water may be no more than tens of meters below the surface."

"As Cassini approached Saturn, we discovered the Saturnian system is filled with oxygen atoms. At the time we had no idea where the oxygen was coming from," said Candy Hansen, Cassini scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena. "Now we know Enceladus is spewing out water molecules, which break down into oxygen and hydrogen."

Scientists still have many questions. Why is Enceladus so active? Are other sites on Enceladus active? Might this activity have been continuous enough over the moon's history for life to have had a chance to take hold in the moon's interior?

In the spring of 2008, scientists will get another chance to look at Enceladus when Cassini flies within 350 kilometers (approximately 220 miles), but much work remains after the spacecraft's four-year prime mission is over.

"There's no question, along with the moon Titan, Enceladus should be a very high priority for us. Saturn has given us two exciting worlds to explore," said Jonathan Lunine, Cassini interdisciplinary scientist, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.

Mission scientists report these and other Enceladus findings in this week's issue of Science. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

For Cassini images and information about the research on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home

- end -

Link:

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/mar/H...turns_moon.html

[patstp]

This is not really a news, 'cause i've heard about it a while ago, last year i think, when Cassini flew by that moon the first time...

Kind of cool to see this moon besides Saturn in your scope and think that there may be life on it !

[shikon1]

yeah i just read this on yahoo...kinda cool hopfully theres life there

mabe they did find life there and the world governments stoped them from saying it and instead they have to say "evidence of water"

Edited March 9, 2006 by shikon1

[JohnnyBoyC]

Saturn moon may have water

By John Kelly, Florida Today

CAPE CANAVERAL — A spacecraft orbiting Saturn may have made a stunning, textbook-altering discovery: liquid water spewing from the surface of one of the planet's frigid moons.

The geysers could be super-cold versions of Earth phenomena such as Yellowstone's Old Faithful.

By NASA

Plumes of icy material extend above the southern polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus as imaged by the Cassini spacecraft in February 2005. The monochrome view is presented along with a color-coded version on the right. The latter reveals a fainter and much more extended plume component.

The Cassini spacecraft, launched from Cape Canaveral in 1997, captured evidence of the geysers during a fly-by of the moon Enceladus late last year.

The team of scientists studying the images and data from the nuclear-powered spaceship speculate in Thursday's edition of the journal Science that the geysers may be liquid water gushing from a sort of subsurface volcano beneath the otherwise frozen moon. (NASA audio: Scientists discuss findings)

Enceladus' surface appears to be made purely of water ice. The presence of liquid water would dramatically change scientists' understanding of what places in our solar system could support life.

"We realize that this is a radical conclusion, that we may have evidence for liquid water within a body so small and so cold," Cassini imaging team leader Carolyn Porco said in a written statement.

"However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms," said Porco, of the Space Science Institute in Colorado.

Until now, scientists had proof such activity took place in only three places in the solar system: Earth, Jupiter's moon Io and Neptune's moon Triton, according to the Cassini team. (Photo gallery: This week in space)

The science team says the water theory would explain why Cassini measured lots of oxygen atoms in the Saturn system.

"At the time we had no idea where the oxygen was coming from," Cassini scientist Candy Hansen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. "Now we know that Enceladus is spewing out water molecules, which break down into oxygen and hydrogen."

Scientists will get another up-close look at Enceladus in spring 2008, when Cassini whizzes to within 220 miles.

Pictures here

Enceladus' surface appears to be made purely of water ice.

What do you guys think?

[Stellar]

What do I think... I think you're jumping to conclusions. The title is "Saturn's moon *may* have water", then you claim liquid water has been found...

[patstp]

yeah i just read this on yahoo...kinda cool hopfully theres life there

mabe they did find life there and the world governments stoped them from saying it and instead they have to say "evidence of water"

Without landing a rover or spacecraft there it would be very difficult to tell if there's in fact lifeforms of any kind under the surface of Enceladus...

Edited March 9, 2006 by patstp

[frogfish]

Europa has ice sheets that harbor a ocean. The ice shows signs of floating and cracking. They do indeed drift.

[DR. YO]

Interesting..................

[Michelle]

Stellar, the article is from NASA reported in USAToday. Johnny didn't jump to any conclusion he simply posted the article.

[Rykster]

That Enceladus has water is known. The key, is whether it has liquid water.

Also, if there is enough energy in the system for metabolism of nutrients.

The exciting bit is that everywhere we find those conditions on Earth, we find biology.