Saturn's moon shows evidence of ammonia

Data collected during two close flybys of Saturn's moon Enceladus by Cassini add more fuel to the fire about the icy world containing sub-surface liquid water. The results, based on data collected by Cassini’s Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer during Enceladus flybys in July and October 2008, will be published in tomorrow’s issue of the journal Nature.

On Earth, the presence of ammonia means the possibility of sparkling clean floors and counter tops. In space, the presence of ammonia provides strong evidence for the existence of at least some liquid water.

“Where liquid water and organics exist, is there life?" said Jonathan Lunine a Cassini scientist from the University of Arizona, Tucson. "Such is the case for Earth; what was found on Enceladus bolsters this moon's promise for containing potential habitable environments.

”The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA and the Italian Space Agency. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, USA. JPL manages the mission for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

ESA http://tinyurl.com/mvlb5v

NASA http://tinyurl.com/268pg

Italian Space Agency http://tinyurl.com/nngsdz

22 July 2009