Enceladus has potential for life

This is excellent science!

It seems that the "tools" for life are pretty abundant within our solar system.

Now it begs two questions; one, how unique is this for our solar system? Two, how narrow of a band is the environment for spawning life (in any form)?

Excellent...
....What are property prices like on Encecadus?

Not bad...but the commute is a bitch.

Lucky for you, I have some prime real estate, with a great view, on sale right now on Enceladus. But you better act quickly, as it's going fast!

Are we going to be getting visitors any time soon? We really should spruce up the planet, just in case.

Orpheuse

It may well be that life exists anywhere it is possible and we don't really know where that is.

"NASA's Cassini probe has detected conditions potentially suitable for life on Saturn's moon Enceladus"???? We (as a people) do not have the slightest idea of what lies on the bottom of the deepest parts of the ocean floor. I would love to know that there is life out there (elsewhere?) in the universe* but what else is there in our oceans tht we aren't aware of? I remember reading about the critters that were living in the volcanic vents way down deep, a lot of people were excited about this showing how diverse life is (was). Wasn't it Io in 2001 and the following stories? What ever became of this Jupiter moon?

* unless that life out there has ideas similar to the beings in Childhood ends, ID4, or that famous Twilight Zone "how to serve humans"

I agree, we should be going in both directions. However, even Carl Sagan felt we needed a 'spare planet'. If it is devoid of life we have a whole moon that we can colonize and start looking for meteors with the resources we need here on Earth, something we can't do in our oceans. We can build habitats in our oceans but I would be hesitant about mining for resources - remember that our oceans produce most of our breathable atmosphere.

If we can find the mineral resources we are running out of here on Earth out in space, then we can just go ahead an cut it up and send back home. The resource crises we are going through is just the beginning. We have to start active mining in space and soon.

We definitely need a few probes on Enceladus.

Orpheuse

I whole heartedly agree ... It is just that they (space administration(s) and gov'ts alike) need to get off of their A$$Es and start doing something for funding. Hmmmm, which is more imortant? A war where there is no "winning" because the instant that our troops are pulled out a huge civil war will most likely ensue? Where all of the big corporations that are making ALL KINDS of MOOLA on the business of war are happy to be. Or getting resources from out there in the void? Which, is more dangerous but a lot farther away and will never really be headline news because it would most likely be considered "out of sight, out of mind" - at least at the beginning.

With the resource crises that we're facing now there's no way the big corps. will be able to ignore it. In fact, it will take the big corporations TO do it.

Look, among other things, if that plume the Cassini space probe passed through is, indeed, water then, with nothing more than a solar panel, which are becoming dirt cheap - and now they've found a way to make transistors and CPU's out of carbon instead of silicon, therefore, cheaper and faster -

you can split water into hydrogen and oxygen (from the plume) by passing an electric current through it (from the solar panel). You've just doubled the distance you can travel because you can use up all your fuel on the way out and then regenerate your hydrogen/oxygen fuel from the water on the Enceladus moon.

And that's just one application. We could harvest enough raw material to really put an end to 'lack' on this planet.

The Intl. Space Station is a lab and a jumping off point for the moon. Now, the moon has become the jumping off point to Enceladus, and Enceladus is the jump off point for Saturn and Jupiter.

This isn't science fiction. We have the technology to do this now. We just need a little patience.

Orpheuse

Yes, you are right on all accounts. Wouldn't it be easier; though, to find a lot of the raw (bulk) materials that we need in the asteroid fields? I guess the whole gas changing thing would be great if it was going to be used for exploring? The asteroid fields are what like half the distance from us that this moon is (or there abouts, tooooooo lazy to look it up and to busy wanting to go to bed). I agree exploring the planets will bring about greater amounts of resources, at what cost? How much more expensive will the raw material be if it has to be flown across millions mile of space in order to come back home. Will the quantity off set the price? Not trying to be the devils advocate or anything, just trying to get it through my THICK head how this all is relative...

Cheers