UM-Bot Posted October 26, 2015 #1 Share Posted October 26, 2015 NASA's Cassini spacecraft is set to embark on its closest and most daring flyby of the moon to date. Thought to be home to a subterranean ocean of liquid water, Enceladus remains one of the most promising places to look for evidence of extraterrestrial life within our own solar system. Read More: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/287736/could-there-be-alien-life-on-enceladus 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quasar_kid Posted October 26, 2015 #2 Share Posted October 26, 2015 I wonder if they'll find extremophiles! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xYlvax Posted October 26, 2015 #3 Share Posted October 26, 2015 It would be cool if they found fish people. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeastieRunner Posted October 26, 2015 #4 Share Posted October 26, 2015 It'll probably be some bacteria ... that turns us into zombies! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highdesert50 Posted October 26, 2015 #5 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Enceladian tardigrades anyone? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atuke Posted October 27, 2015 #6 Share Posted October 27, 2015 But philosophically I don't think it would be alien life. Outside of our solar system and around another sun? Then hell yes. But in our solar system, we are all children of our sun..we just haven't found them yet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted October 27, 2015 #7 Share Posted October 27, 2015 But philosophically I don't think it would be alien life. Outside of our solar system and around another sun? Then hell yes. But in our solar system, we are all children of our sun..we just haven't found them yet. If it is not from Earth it is, by definition alien. Definition of alien in English:adjective 3 Supposedly from another world; extraterrestrial noun 2 A hypothetical or fictional being from another world Source: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/alien That it comes from the same solar system is entirely irrelevant. Philosophy is all well and good, but when it wilfully ignores facts it is worse than pointless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyche101 Posted October 27, 2015 #8 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Being only 500 km's wide, it seems unlikely that life will be there, if there is, it would be more than interesting to see what might develop under such different conditions. Can't imagine anything bigger than a microbe at best. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted October 27, 2015 #9 Share Posted October 27, 2015 It might be alien or it might be Earth life that has adapted to conditions there (from meteoric "infection"). I think it is probably sterile (there is no evidence, just possibility), but if it is there I would say both of these possibilities have about equal (small) probability. That is on the assumption that simple life is not something that happens practically everywhere conditions permit. This is by some thought to be the case, but I would't dare try to assess it now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troublehalf Posted October 27, 2015 #10 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I hope evidence is found to support that there is life there. The main problem is: money. Even if NASA (and Co) went "Yeah, there is ingredients for life there, but we can't 100% confirm there is life without going down there" then that would be the end of it. NASA and Co have no funding to mount that kind of expedition. They DID have plans, but they were shelved in favour of Mars. Which, based on what we've found so far, isn't too bad a decision. However I think the earliest exploration of "potential life" moons is 2035 (and then 5 years travel based on current tech, maybe EMDrive will be workable by then!) and that was for Europa. Europa should be being investigated by rovers. It's the most likely to hold anything, in my eyes, but I'm not going to knock exploring Enceladus. Maybe I should write to Richard Branson. He went furthest anybody has gone down in the ocean a few years ago. He is doing Virgin Space Flight company thing. So maybe he'll be willing to help support exploration by rovers on Europa and Enceladus, since they're pretty much 100% confirmed to hold water. Ganymede is also a likely "water" place to visit at some point. But Europa first... Anybody got his number? I don't want to die before it's explored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted October 27, 2015 #11 Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) NASA and Co have no funding to mount that kind of expedition. Not actually true. NASA's budget is bigger than that of Russia's Roscosmos, Europe's ESA and China's CNSA combined. They DID have plans, but they were shelved in favour of Mars. Also not true. NASA has funding for a mission to explore the surface of Europa. Europa should be being investigated by rovers. Rovers are an extraordinarily bad idea. Since any life will be in the ocean below the ice a rover is unlikely to find anything. A system for drilling through the ice and a submarine are what is needed. It's the most likely to hold anything, in my eyes, Based on what? Maybe I should write to Richard Branson. He couldn't afford it. He may be a billionaire but a Europa mission would use most or all of his wealth. He isn't even the largest source of funding for Virgin Galactic. Edited October 27, 2015 by Waspie_Dwarf typo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodnite Posted October 27, 2015 #12 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I'm sure one day NASA will find life on another planet, just not as we know life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted October 27, 2015 #13 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I'm sure one day NASA will find life on another planet, just not as we know life. Oh no doubt it's out there, but I doubt it is NASA that will find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maureen_jacobs Posted October 28, 2015 #14 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Hope they don't find Daleks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merc14 Posted October 28, 2015 #15 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Just a reminder that the Enceladus "deep dive" occurs today! http://earthsky.org/space/does-enceladus-support-life-7-key-facts?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=1f5a27b312-EarthSky_News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-1f5a27b312-394012957 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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