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Researchers believe they may be able to suss out whether microscopic aliens exist on one of Saturn’s 83 moons without having to land a spaceship there.
Enceladus — about 800 million miles away and 25 times smaller than Earth — has captured the imaginations of planetary scientists searching for life beyond the blue marble. The Saturn moon shoots geyser-like plumes containing bits of water and gas from its ocean into space. That constant spray creates a halo, which contributes to one of Saturn’s rings.
Scientists have pushed NASA to endorse future missions to explore the world, requesting financial support to land on its surface. One such proposal, the Enceladus Orbilander designed by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, would study it from the moon’s ground — as well as from space — over a 1.5-year period beginning in the 2050s. The complex mission would cost an estimated $2.5 billion, according to The Planetary Society, a nonprofit focused on advancing space science.
Now a research group led from the University of Arizona has laid out a proposal for an approach that’s relatively simple, suggesting that all scientists would need to determine whether microbes live under Enceladus’ icy shell is an orbiting space probe. The study was published in The Planetary Science Journal this December.
“Our research shows that if a biosphere is present in Enceladus’ ocean, signs of its existence could be picked up in plume material without the need to land or drill,” said Antonin Affholder, the lead author, in a statement, “but such a mission would require an orbiter to fly through the plume multiple times to collect lots of oceanic material.”
Just how many times? Perhaps over 100 flybys, according to the paper.
To discover the presence of alien life, the research team has turned the problem on its head: Rather than trying to answer how much organic material would have to be found to prove that life is there, they are focusing on the maximum amount of organic material that could be present without life.
When Enceladus was first studied in 1980 by NASA’s Voyager 1 probe, it didn’t appear as much more than a little snowball. More recently, researchers have learned that the moon’s thick layer of ice conceals a warm saltwater ocean, spewing methane, a gas that usually comes from bacteria and other microorganisms on Earth. Between 2005 and 2017, NASA’s crewless Cassini spacecraft flew through Saturn’s rings and moons, revealing an abundance of new information.
Last year a collaboration between the University of Arizona and Université Paris Sciences et Lettres in Paris calculated that microbial life forms on Enceladus could be what’s causing the moon to burp methane.
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“signs of its existence could be picked up in plume material without the need to land or drill.”
The possibility that actual cells would be detected might be slim, because they would have to survive the journey of ejection from deep within an ocean into the vacuum of space. The team of scientists say organic molecules, such as certain amino acids, would serve instead as evidence to support or rule out habitation.
If measurements came back above a certain threshold, it would make a strong case that microbes live on Enceladus.
But, Affholder said: “The definitive evidence of living cells caught on an alien world may remain elusive for generations.”
FOOTIE fans are being hit hardest by militant train strikes as more than half take place on Saturdays.
Manchester City, Spurs and Chelsea fans face more misery to get to games tomorrow as RMT chief Mick Lynch and his union host yet another walkout.
Football fans are being hit the hardest by militant train strikes as more than half take place on Saturdays[/caption]
RMT chief Mick Lynch and his union host yet another walkout tomorrow[/caption]
Five of 11 strike days since June have taken place on Saturdays, hammering sports fans, families on weekend breaks and travellers.
Fans attending five Premiership games this Saturday will have to battle with just one in five trains running.
Pubs, restaurants and other battered hospitality businesses will see their trade take another whack, and NHS staff and shift workers will also face huge disruption to get to work.
Saturday rail numbers have bounced back above pre-Covid levels with around 3.5million journeys a day.
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But strike days have seen numbers drop back to just one million journeys.
A rail industry source urged unions to get back around the table to agree a deal on pay and reforms as soon as possible.
They said: “These strikes continue to disrupt football fans, leisure travellers, shift workers and undermine the many hospitality businesses who struggle with rising costs and reduced footfall and further action by the trade unions will only further damage the railway’s recovery.
“Passengers are equally getting frustrated with the continued strikes; particularly on a Saturday, where people want to be able to enjoy their weekend plans, and the disruption may force people back into their cars.”
Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality CEO, hit out: “Given Saturday is usually the busiest day of the week for most hospitality venues, another weekend rail strike will be a further blow to businesses in the sector which are already grappling with record staff shortages and facing a tsunami of rising costs.”
A union source said: “RMT is not targeting football fans and we are sorry for any disruption to people’s lives.
“However, railway workers are having their lives disrupted by the threat of losing their jobs and suffering multi-year pay freezes.
“They have no other option but to strike until a negotiated settlement can be found with the railway industry.”
It came as the industry regulator pointed out that striking maintenance rail workers are already paid a fifth more than similar roles.
The Office of Rail and Road said workers demanding double-digit pay hikes are already on salaries 18 per cent.
Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, the public sector body that employs signal workers and other maintenance staff, said: “As the ORR’s report found, we provide a competitive package in line with market rates to reward and attract the best talent.
“As a public sector body, we balance this with the need to spend public money sensibly.
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Meanwhile, millions of nurses will also vote in their first ever UK-wide strike action.
And emergency 999 call handlers also joined a strike with colleagues from BT in a row over pay.