Whitepaper #053 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topics: habitability and water; life and prebiotic organics; ocean worlds
by Morgan Cable, Shannon MacKenzie, Marc Neveu, Tori M. Hoehler, Amanda R. Hendrix, Jennifer Eigenbrode, Frank Postberg, Carolyn Porco, Christopher R. Glein, Linda Spilker, Amy E. Hofmann, Alfred McEwen, J. Hunter Waite, Peter Wurz, Jörn Helbert, Ariel Anbar, Jean-Pierre de Vera, and Jorge Núñez
Published onMar 18, 2021
The Case for a Return to Enceladus
The plume of Enceladus provides access to fresh material from a habitable, subsurface ocean. We summarize in this white paper the evidence for Enceladus’ ocean and its habitability, identify constraints and outstanding questions on the detectability of life within Enceladus, and recommend a return to Enceladus beginning in the coming decade.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0)
