NASA Probe to Dive Through Saturn Moon's Icy Plume Wednesday
Artist's illustration of NASA's Cassini spacecraft flying by Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. Cassini will make its deepest-ever dive through Enceladus' south polar plume on Wednesday (Oct. 28). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Scientists are about to get their best look ever at the ocean that sloshes beneath the surface of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. On Wednesday (Oct. 28), NASA's Cassini spacecraft will zoom just 30 miles (50 kilometers) above Enceladus, flying through and sampling the plume of material that erupts from the satellite's south polar region. This plume is thought to originate from Enceladus' underground liquid-water ocean, so Cassini's onboard sample analysis should shed light on the moon's potential to host life, mission team members said. Mission Video "On Wednesday, we will plunge deeper into the magnificent plume coming from the south pole than we ever have before, and we will collect the best samples ever...
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