Astrobiologists and planetary safety consultants are much more involved about contaminating Enceladus than about contaminating Titan.
The Cassini probe breaks up in Saturn’s environment on this artist’s depiction. The probe was deliberately destroyed to stop contamination of the planet’s moons. Credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Cassini deliberately crashed into Saturn to stop contamination from earthly organisms. however wouldn’t Huygens pose a a lot higher danger, because it truly landed on Titan?
Wealthy Andreano
Lakewood, Colorado
The rationale dominating the choices to land Huygens on Titan and destroy Cassini in Saturn’s environment is that astrobiologists and planetary safety consultants are much more involved about contaminating Enceladus than about contaminating Titan.
This may appear counterintuitive: Titan is of main astrobiological import as a result of its floor and environment are teeming with natural chemical substances — together with many which might be a part of the idea of life on Earth and which we expect performed a task within the origin of life. Titan can be distinctive as a moon with a considerable environment.
Nevertheless, as a result of Titan’s chilly temperatures (minus 290 levels Fahrenheit, or minus 179 levels Celsius), we anticipate its natural chemical substances haven’t advanced into biology, or a minimum of not Earth-like biology. On Earth, organic reactions rely on water being in a liquid state to behave as a solvent by way of hydrogen bonding, permitting natural molecules to kind membranes and thus cells.
Whereas ammonia may very well be the solvent and the idea for membranes on a super-cold world like Titan, ESA thought of the chance of contaminating such a chilly biosphere to be extraordinarily low. The company states on its web site: “The tough atmosphere is anticipated to kill microorganisms that will have hitchhiked from Earth on board the clear space probe.”
In distinction, Enceladus harbors a worldwide ocean of liquid water beneath a layer of floor ice, making this moon probably crucial spot within the solar system to search for extant (Earth-like) extraterrestrial microorganisms. Consequently, the NASA-ESA staff wished to eradicate any likelihood of Earth {hardware} crashing onto Enceladus, and thus crashed Cassini into Saturn’s environment.
David Warmflash
Astrobiologist and Science Communicator, Portland, Oregon
