Cassini Has Been Good for Astrobiologists

As you may (or may not) be aware, Cassini's mission around Saturn will be coming to an end this year. For 13 years, Cassini has orbited Saturn, and has discovered a lot. I think that I'll make a more comprehensive post about Cassini closer to October, when Cassini performs its death dive into Saturn, but for now, I want to highlight this. It is interesting how a planet a billion miles away from the sun possesses two moons with the potential of hosting life. Enceladus especially has been a huge surprise. I don't think anyone was expecting Enceladus to be anything more than a ball of ice. But here we are today, with photo evidence of massive geysers spewing organic material out into space. Cassini doesn't have the capability to detect life, but the ingredients are there.

Then, of course, there's Titan. Titan is a fascinating place. A thick atmosphere, a methane cycle that mirrors Earth's water cycle, large methane seas hundreds of feet deep, even rivers of methane, Titan really does resemble an Earth in deep freeze. No one knows if life can use methane instead of water, there are pros and there are cons. But it would be very interesting to find out. Life on Enceladus would be, well, different to life on Earth, but not that different. It would be recognizable to us, and would probably resemble deep-sea life on Earth. But life on Titan? It would be a truly alien biochemistry.

Basically, we need to go back to Saturn. And soon. Enceladus and Titan are just too inviting as targets to resist. Mars is closer, and Europa is basically just a bigger Enceladus, but for my money, if there's life in the solar system, it'll be around Saturn.