Life Investigation For Enceladus (LIFE) was a proposed

astrobiology Astrobiology, and the related field of exobiology, is an interdisciplinary scientific field that studies the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology is the multidisciplinary field that invest ...

mission concept that would capture icy particles from

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

's moon

Enceladus Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn (19th largest in the Solar System). It is about in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most refle ...

and return them to Earth, where they could be studied in detail for signs of life such as

biomolecules A biomolecule or biological molecule is a loosely used term for molecules present in organisms that are essential to one or more typically biological processes, such as cell division, morphogenesis, or development. Biomolecules include lar ...

. The LIFE orbiter concept was proposed by a team led by Peter Tsou to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

's 13th Discovery Mission solicitation, but the mission was not selected by NASA for Phase-A design study.

Mission concept

PIA19656-SaturnMoon-Enceladus-Ocean-ArtConcept-20150915

is a small icy moon with jets or geysers of water erupting from its surface that might be connected to active

hydrothermal vent A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspo ...

s at its subsurface water ocean floor, where the moon's ocean meets the underlying rock, a prime habitat for

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...

. The geysers could provide easy access for sampling the moon's subsurface ocean, and if there is microbial life in it, ice particles from the sea could contain the evidence astrobiologists need to identify them. Enceladus geysers June 2009

The 15-year LIFE mission would use a '

Tanpopo was a sub-group of the Japanese idol girl group Morning Musume and associated with Hello! Project. It was formed by Up-Front Promotion in November 1998 as Morning Musume's first sub-group. While the main group Morning Musume features predomin ...

aerogel Aerogels are a class of synthetic porous ultralight material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component for the gel has been replaced with a gas, without significant collapse of the gel structure. The result is a solid with extremely low ...

collector similar to the one NASA used in the ''

Stardust Stardust may refer to: * A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space Entertainment Songs * “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael * “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974 * “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012 * ...

sample return mission A sample-return mission is a spacecraft mission to collect and return samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. Sample-return missions may bring back merely atoms and molecules or a deposit of complex compounds such as lo ...

to return cometary dust in 2006. The proposed spacecraft would enter into

orbit and enable multiple flybys through Enceladus's icy plumes. After spending about two years in orbit as slow as 2 km/s around Saturn, LIFE would use its propulsion system to escape Saturn and begin the ~4.5 year long voyage back to Earth with the collected particles in a return capsule. The spacecraft may sample Enceladus's plume, the E ring of Saturn, and the

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

upper atmosphere. In December 2014, NASA announced that it would be selecting finalists in June 2015 to submit proposals for a future Discovery Program mission, and selecting a winning proposal in September 2016. The selected mission must launch by the end of 2021. The mission would have a $425 million development cost cap, and it would reach Saturn after a series of

gravity assist In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist maneuver, or swing-by is the use of the relative movement (e.g. orbit around the Sun) and gravity of a planet or other astronomical object to alter the p ...

s past

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

and the Earth. Samples from Enceladus's plume would make it to Earth about 14 years later. In September 2016, NASA announced that five proposals had been selected for further study.

Science payload

As currently envisioned, the probe's science payload would consist of: *an

collector — for capture of particles at 2 km/s *a tool for collecting volatile chemicals *a

mass spectrometer Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a '' mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is us ...

—CHIMPS, an upgraded ROSINA on ''

Rosetta Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The R ...

'' spacecraft *a camera — optical navigation shared with science to observe the dynamics of the jets *a dust counter — to confirm the flux of the jet particles encountered by the collectors The samples collected would be returned to Earth for extensive analyses.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Life Investigation For Enceladus Discovery program proposals Enceladus Missions to Saturn Proposed NASA space probes Proposed astrobiology space missions

Mission concept

Science payload

See also

References