Strategic map for exploring the ocean-world Enceladus

Sherwood, Brent

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2016.04.013

Cited by 21 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We note that any mission architecture must remain flexible to accommodate discovery-driven changes. From Sherwood (2016): “Among the many “ocean worlds” of our Solar System, Enceladus appears unique in its combination of astrobiologically relevant and exploration-worthy attributes: extensive liquid-water ocean with active hydrothermal activity, containing salts and organics expressed predictably into space. The Enceladus south polar plume allows direct access to telltale molecules, ions, isotopes, and potential cytofragments in space.…”

Section: Mission Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Follow-on missions would likely depend on the results of the first Europa Lander mission, and whether it detects clear biosignatures. Such future missions would likely include more capable landers, rovers, and eventually a submersible or melt probe that would directly access the subsurface liquid ocean layer and might even return samples (Sherwood, 2016). Seismology on a lander would greatly facilitate future exploration into Europa's ice shell or ocean.…”

Section: Mission Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The NASA Roadmap to Ocean Worlds

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, we summarize the work of the NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) group. The aim of this group is to assemble the scientific framework that will guide the exploration of ocean worlds, and to identify and prioritize science objectives for ocean worlds over the next several decades. The overarching goal of an Ocean Worlds exploration program as defined by ROW is to “identify ocean worlds, characterize their oceans, evaluate their habitability, search for life, and ultimately understand any life we find.” The ROW team supports the creation of an exploration program that studies the full spectrum of ocean worlds, that is, not just the exploration of known ocean worlds such as Europa but candidate ocean worlds such as Triton as well. The ROW team finds that the confirmed ocean worlds Enceladus, Titan, and Europa are the highest priority bodies to target in the near term to address ROW goals. Triton is the highest priority candidate ocean world to target in the near term. A major finding of this study is that, to map out a coherent Ocean Worlds Program, significant input is required from studies here on Earth; rigorous Research and Analysis studies are called for to enable some future ocean worlds missions to be thoughtfully planned and undertaken. A second finding is that progress needs to be made in the area of collaborations between Earth ocean scientists and extraterrestrial ocean scientists.

show abstract

Section: Mission Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mission Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

The NASA Roadmap to Ocean Worlds

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Sample return may also require substantially less sample than in situ investigations. This complementarity may be necessary for life detection (Sherwood, 2016). The ease of access of ocean material through the plume allows one to bypass the sequence of missions to "fly by, orbit, land, rove, and return samples."…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To search for life in the plume, mission concepts ranging from in situ analyses (Lunine et al, 2015;MacKenzie et al, 2016;Eigenbrode et al, 2018), to orbiting or landing (MacKenzie et al, 2020), to sample return (Tsou et al, 2012;Sekine et al, 2014) have been proposed or discussed, as steps on a path (Sherwood, 2016) toward in situ characterization of subsurface liquid (Konstantinidis et al, 2015). In addition to scientific interest, recent political will in the United States has spurred roadmapping of the exploration of "ocean worlds" (Enceladus is a prime example) to search for life (Hendrix et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Returning Samples From Enceladus for Life Detection

Neveu

Anbar

Dávila

et al. 2020

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Evidence suggests that Saturn's icy moon Enceladus has a subsurface ocean that sources plumes of water vapor and ice vented to space from its south pole. In situ analyses of this material by the Cassini spacecraft have shown that the ocean contains key ingredients for life (elements H, C, N, O and possibly S; simple and complex organic compounds; chemical disequilibria at water-rock interfaces; clement temperature, pressure, and pH). The Cassini discoveries make Enceladus' interior a prime locale for life detection beyond Earth. Scant material exchange with the inner Solar System makes it likely that such life would have emerged independently of life on Earth. Thus, its discovery would illuminate life's universal characteristics. The alternative result of an upper bound on a detectable biosphere in an otherwise habitable environment would likewise considerably advance our understanding of the prevalence of life beyond Earth. Here we outline the rationale for returning vented ocean samples, accessible from Enceladus' surface or low altitudes, to Earth for life detection. Returning samples allows analyses using laboratory instruments that cannot be flown, with decades or more to adapt and repeat analyses. We describe an example set of measurements to estimate the amount of sample to be returned and discuss possible mission architectures and collection approaches. We then turn to the challenges of preserving sample integrity and implementing planetary protection policy. We conclude by placing such a mission in the broader context of Solar System exploration.

show abstract

“…D etection of extant or extinct life on another planet is one of the overarching goals of planetary science exploration and is fundamental to the Mars Exploration program (MEPAG, 2015), Ocean Worlds exploration (Sherwood, 2016;Lunine, 2017;Hendrix et al, 2019), and even exoplanet research (NRC, 2010). The burden of proof to confirm detection correlates with the magnitude of the claim.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Habitability with an Integrated Rock-Climbing Robot and Astrobiology Instrument Suite

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A prototype rover carrying an astrobiology payload was developed and deployed at analog field sites to mature generalized system architectures capable of searching for biosignatures in extreme terrain across the Solar System. Specifically, the four-legged Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot (LEMUR) 3 climbing robot with microspine grippers carried three instruments: A micro-X-ray fluorescence instrument based on the Mars 2020 mission's Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry provided elemental chemistry; a deep-ultraviolet fluorescence instrument based in Mars 2020s Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals mapped organics in bacterial communities on opaque substrates; and a nearinfrared acousto-optic tunable filter-based point spectrometer identified minerals and organics in the 1.6-3.6 mm range. The rover also carried a light detection and ranging and a color camera for both science and navigation. Combined, this payload detects astrobiologically important classes of rock components (elements, minerals, and organics) in extreme terrain, which, as demonstrated in this work, can reveal a correlation between textural biosignatures and the organics or elements expected to preserve them in a habitable environment. Across >10 field tests, milestones were achieved in instrument operations, autonomous mobility in extreme terrain, and system integration that can inform future planetary science mission architectures. Contributions include (1) system-level demonstration of mock missions to the vertical exposures of Mars lava tube caves and Mars canyon walls, (2) demonstration of multi-instrument integration into a confocal arrangement with surface scanning capabilities, and (3) demonstration of automated focus stacking algorithms for improved signal-tonoise ratios and reduced operation time.

show abstract

Strategic map for exploring the ocean-world Enceladus

Cited by 21 publications

References 18 publications

The NASA Roadmap to Ocean Worlds

The NASA Roadmap to Ocean Worlds

Returning Samples From Enceladus for Life Detection

Investigating Habitability with an Integrated Rock-Climbing Robot and Astrobiology Instrument Suite

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About