2023-12-21 16:00:00
Organic Molecules on Saturn’s Moon, International Recognition for Yitzhak Ben Israel, High-Speed Internet from the Depths of Space, and the Renewal of Blue Origin’s Launches: Summary of the week around the universe
Signs of life on Saturn’s moon?
Enceladus, one of the largest moons of the planet Saturn, looks frozen and heavenly when viewed from above. But beneath its outer layer of ice is an ocean of liquid water, buzzing with chemical activity. Previous tests revealed that this water contains simple molecules such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and ammonia (NH3). A new analysis of data suggests that the waters of Enceladus probably also contain more complex substances. The scientists estimate, or at least dream, that the presence of organic molecules, i.e. carbon compounds, may indicate the possibility of any life existing in this dark ocean.
Although the ocean is under a layer of ice many kilometers thick, it is possible to sample its waters through a “geyser” – a jet of water that erupts into space from the south pole of the moon. That’s exactly what the Cassini spacecraft, which studied Saturn, its rings, and moons for 13 years, did. The spaceship passed over the moon in the steam jet, collected their samples, and analyzed their composition with a mass spectrometer. Simple molecules were found, which along with water molecules (H2O) were the majority of the sample’s content.
Now, a few years after the intentional crash of the spacecraft, researchers at the JPL laboratory of the American space agency NASA decided to examine the spectrometer data again and analyze it with advanced mathematical methods. In an article published in the journal Nature Astronomy, they reported that they also discovered larger and more complex molecules in the sample, including hydrogen cyanide (HCN), acetylene (C2H2), propylene (C3H6), ethane (C2H6), methanol (CH3OH), and more.
“Our study provides further evidence that in Enceladus there are some of the most important molecules for creating life and sustaining metabolic processes,” said Johann Peter, a PhD student from Harvard University who led the research as part of an internship at JPL. “Not only does Enceladus meet the threshold conditions in terms of the conditions necessary for life, we also now know how complex biological molecules can form there.”
Researchers estimate that Saturn’s strong gravity causes the cores of the moons that surround it, including Enceladus, to stretch and contract, thus causing it to heat up. It is this internal heat source that allows the existence of a liquid ocean so far from the sun, and it is this which is probably responsible for the chemical processes that enable the formation of relatively complex molecules, and perhaps even real living beings, such as what happens in geothermal springs that exist at the bottom of oceans on Earth.
There are several general plans for further missions to explore this subterranean ocean, but so far none has matured into practical action. A researcher from the University of Arizona published this week a proposal to investigate the composition of the ocean using a probe that will land on its surface, and not have to dive into it or fly through the vapor again.
Tribute to Yitzchak Ben Yisrael
The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) announced this week that next year it will award the Distinguished Service Award to Prof. Yitzhak Ben Israel, former chairman of the Israel Space Agency, for his great contribution to astronautics and the advancement of the Federation.
Ben Yisrael, a reserve champion who held many positions in the defense system and twice won the Israel Defense Prize, is one of the leading figures in Israel in the fields of space and cyber. Among other things, he headed the Israel Space Agency from 2005 to 2022, and greatly promoted Israeli space activities in the civilian field. He has been active for many years in the Federation, which organizes, among other things, the World Astronautical Conference, and in 2012 he received the status of a lifetime member in its ranks. “It is a real honor to give you the award, because for many years you have been an active partner in the success of the federation,” said the announcement about the award.
“I have received many awards in my life, and over the years it is less exciting than before, but it is still very exciting and gratifying to receive recognition for my activity,” Ben Israel told the Davidson Institute website. “I really appreciate this gesture.”
Uranus as never seen before
These days mark two years since the launch of The James B. Space Telescope and the United States space agency published new photos made through it, revealing the complexity of the mysterious system of the planet Uranus. In visible light, Uranus appears as a blue sphere, but viewing it at several infrared wavelengths reveals many details, such as the seasonal ice cap at its south pole, and storms that occur in its atmosphere. Beyond the spectacular beauty of the photography, the space telescope’s information will be used to plan future missions to Uranus, which so far has been passed by only one spacecraft, who photographed him up close in 1986. Uranus also serves as a kind of laboratory for the study of planets in other solar systems, because so far about two thousand planets have been discovered similar to it in size, and some also in additional characteristics.
The cat launched from space
The American spacecraft Psyche was launched about two months ago to investigate intriguing objects in the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In recent days it has also been used to experiment with new technology: Broadband communication on an infrared laser. The data transmitted by the spacecraft in the experiment was not a close-up of an asteroid or other scientific measurements, but a video of a cat chasing the point of light of a laser pointer. As a result, the cat, Taters, became a network star.
The technology demonstrated the transmission of high-definition video from a distance of 31 million kilometers, at a speed of 267 megabits per second (Mbps), which even exceeds the average bandwidth of Internet connections within the United States. One of the experiment participants said that after receiving the video at the telescope station in California, they transferred it to the JPL offices, which are also in California, and this transfer actually took longer than receiving the transmission from space.
“Increasing the bandwidth is an essential step for our future research and the fulfillment of our scientific goals,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (Melroy). “We look forward to the continued development of this technology, which is expected to revolutionize the way we communicate with spacecraft in future interplanetary missions.”
Back in blue
The “Blue Origin” company, which operates tourist flights to the border of space, resumed her missions after 15 months of downtime since the explosion that happened in her launch vehicle, New Shepherd, in September 2022. The new rocket was launched on Tuesday of this week from the company’s space base in West Texas, and its first stage completed a soft landing at the launch site a short time later. The spacecraft itself was unmanned and carried 33 scientific experiments, about half of them were experiments by NASA or were developed with it, and the rest by universities, schools, and other bodies involved in science and space education.
The company has not yet announced when the next launch is expected, nor has it reported when it intends to resume manned flights. Its competitor in the field of tourist flights to the frontier of space, Virgin Galactic, has recently launched several flights and is expected to launch another one in January, but announced that it will soon freeze this activity for two years to focus on the development of the next generation of a space plane. All this is done in the shade of financial difficulties which threaten the continuation of its activities.
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