Ocean discovered on Enceladus, a small moon around Saturn

Adamantium

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/apr/03/ocean-enceladus-alien-life-water-saturn-moon

"Researchers have discovered a deep saltwater ocean on one of the many small moons that orbit Saturn, leading scientists to conclude it is the most likely place in the solar system for extraterrestrial life to be found.

Gravitational field measurements taken by Nasa's Cassini space probe revealed that a 10km-deep ocean of water, larger than Lake Superior, lurks beneath the icy surface of Enceladus at the moon's south pole.

David Stevenson, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said the body of water was so large it "may extend halfway or more towards the equator in every direction. It might even extend all the way to the north."

The presence of a saltwater ocean a billion kilometres from Earth more than satisfies Nasa's long-held mantra of "follow the water" to find signs of alien life, but water is not the only factor that makes Enceladus such a promising habitat. The water is in contact with the moon's rocky core, so elements useful for life, such as phosphorus, sulfur and potassium, will leach into the ocean.

The first hint that Enceladus might harbour a subterranean ocean came in 2005 when Nasa's Cassini spacecraft photographed extraordinary jets of water vapour blasting out of fissures in the moon's south pole. The source of the water"

Relevant video, pure class:

Also in the same area:

All NASA contact with Russia immediately suspended (except Space Station activities)

https://plus.google.com/+NASA/posts/eihoeSm5fVy

"Given Russia's ongoing violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, NASA is suspending the majority of its ongoing engagements with the Russian Federation."

http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=45536

Poor NASA, they still can't get humans into orbit without Russians.

"We will stop all contacts with you but we will still use you to send Americans into orbit"

A bit sad, frankly. Science should be beyond terrestrial disputes and the war mongerers. Wanting professionals to "not get along"

An ocean called Enceladus near Saturn. Has a nice ring to it

danniemcq

Adamantium wrote: »

A bit sad, frankly. Science should be beyond terrestrial disputes and the war mongerers. Wanting professionals to "not get along"

I think there is some clause on the space station that even if ww3 broke out between Russia and the US they would still work together, sometimes science wins... just not on budgets, interests, investments etc.

Its sad that we get so much advancement in how to kill people from tech used/created by the space race while such little goes the other way (rockets are a good example of it going the right way though)

Its one to think about, if/when life is found outside of Earth will it bring people together for the advancment of the human race, for knowledge, heck for survival or will we band together and nuke them.

Jeez i'd hate to think we are alone in the universe, its to terrifying knowing there is so much out there that we haven't seen, haven't event thought of or even theorised about and if we f*ck up, if someone presses the wrong button, if radar faults are picked up as something else, if failsafes fail thats it. that knowledge lost forever for nothing to pick it up again.

dodderangler

Grand so we can take the fish from that place now yeah?
America you can go first

danniemcq

Ok so turns out the Russians could be armed up there....

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/04/14/this-is-the-gun-that-soviet-cosmonauts-took-with-them-into-space/

http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/s_640x_480-tm-tfb-500x375.jpg is the gun they used to use but now they just use a pistol

Adamantium

danniemcq wrote: »

Ok so turns out the Russians could be armed up there....

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/04/14/this-is-the-gun-that-soviet-cosmonauts-took-with-them-into-space/

http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/s_640x_480-tm-tfb-500x375.jpg is the gun they used to use but now they just use a pistol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYHarHGILC4

josip

Aren't we amazing?
We've sent a probe 1.2 billion km to Saturn.
It was designed and built 20 years ago.
Left earth 17 years ago, before many boardsies were born.
It's been able to discover a 10km deep body of water under 30-40km of ice.
It did this by measuring its own tiny velocity changes, as small as .02 mm/s.
We are fcuking amazing.

And it's all running on Plutonium-238 which we're no longer producing in sufficient quantities to power anything after 2022

suicide_circus

We need to nuke that moon to stop those alien freaks in their tracks!!!!! 1!!

Birneybau

josip wrote: »

Aren't we amazing?
We've sent a probe 1.2 billion km to Saturn.
It was designed and built 20 years ago.
Left earth 17 years ago, before many boardsies were born.
It's been able to discover a 10km deep body of water under 30-40km of ice.
It did this by measuring its own tiny velocity changes, as small as .02 mm/s.
We are fcuking amazing.

And it's all running on Plutonium-238 which we're no longer producing in sufficient quantities to power anything after 2022

Doubt it. Think you are confused with Bebo (I'm so old).

danniemcq

suicide_circus wrote: »

We need to nuke that moon to stop those alien freaks in their tracks!!!!! 1!!

we don't really have enough nukes to do anything to the moon bar make it kinda dusty!

If there was aliens travelling across space then they would have to already cope with vast amounts of radiation.

Now if we wanted to move/destroy the moon we would need at least 10 billion megatons of TNT and maybe as much as 10 trillian.

To put that in perspective the largest nuke (Tsar bomb) was 50 megatons of TNT and every nuke ever tested combined gives 500 megatones of TNT and all weapons combined at the minute would give 7000 megatons of TNT.

So we are vastly underpowered, plus we would need all devices to go off at the same time in the exact same spot to shift it out of orbit.

And even if we did it it would do us more harm than anything or anyone else.

But i like your way of thinking, you're promoted

suicide_circus

danniemcq wrote: »

we don't really have enough nukes to do anything to the moon bar make it kinda dusty!

If there was aliens travelling across space then they would have to already cope with vast amounts of radiation.

Now if we wanted to move/destroy the moon we would need at least 10 billion megatons of TNT and maybe as much as 10 trillian.

To put that in perspective the largest nuke (Tsar bomb) was 50 megatons of TNT and every nuke ever tested combined gives 500 megatones of TNT and all weapons combined at the minute would give 7000 megatons of TNT.

So we are vastly underpowered, plus we would need all devices to go off at the same time in the exact same spot to shift it out of orbit.

And even if we did it it would do us more harm than anything or anyone else.

But i like your way of thinking, you're promoted

Thanks boss, I come from the Duke Nukem school of interplanetary relations.

john the one

But is there not frozen water on our moon?

Beano

danniemcq wrote: »

Ok so turns out the Russians could be armed up there....

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/04/14/this-is-the-gun-that-soviet-cosmonauts-took-with-them-into-space/

http://uploads.neatorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/s_640x_480-tm-tfb-500x375.jpg is the gun they used to use but now they just use a pistol

That gun is for when they land back on earth. The russians always land on land as opposed to the US who always landed their astronauts in the ocean. The russian cosmonaut could very easily land in the middle of siberia with no help coming for some time. the gun is self-defence against wild animals.

rozeboosje

Beano wrote: »

That gun is for when they land back on earth. The russians always land on land as opposed to the US who always landed their astronauts in the ocean. The russian cosmonaut could very easily land in the middle of siberia with no help coming for some time. the gun is self-defence against wild animals.

And, on a darker note, if they end up in a situation that is extremely hostile with no hope of rescue ... you work it out ;-)

Adamantium

All this talk of guns, reminds of the ISS and Tiangong portion of the World War Z book..

God damn it why was it not a HBO series!! Why?!

Muise...

danniemcq wrote: »

I think there is some clause on the space station that even if ww3 broke out between Russia and the US they would still work together, sometimes science wins... just not on budgets, interests, investments etc.

Its sad that we get so much advancement in how to kill people from tech used/created by the space race while such little goes the other way (rockets are a good example of it going the right way though)

Its one to think about, if/when life is found outside of Earth will it bring people together for the advancment of the human race, for knowledge, heck for survival or will we band together and nuke them.

Jeez i'd hate to think we are alone in the universe, its to terrifying knowing there is so much out there that we haven't seen, haven't event thought of or even theorised about and if we f*ck up, if someone presses the wrong button, if radar faults are picked up as something else, if failsafes fail thats it. that knowledge lost forever for nothing to pick it up again.

The universe makes me optimistic - maybe because it is ever-expanding, arms outstretched - so rather than feeling small and random and terrified of my own species and those that may be lurking in the dark, I like to think parts of our knowledge will survive. It might be interpreted differently, but our knowledge of cave paintings and dinosaurs eg, is largely speculative, which is ever-expandingly fun too. If the failsafes fail, I'll be on Voyager, putting the needle on the Golden Record. Choon!

Adamantium

Muise... wrote: »

The universe makes me optimistic - maybe because it is ever-expanding, arms outstretched - so rather than feeling small and random and terrified of my own species and those that may be lurking in the dark, I like to think parts of our knowledge will survive. It might be interpreted differently, but our knowledge of cave paintings and dinosaurs eg, is largely speculative, which is ever-expandingly fun too. If the failsafes fail, I'll be on Voyager, putting the needle on the Golden Record. Choon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-6CvmmcG0w

Go to 4:50 for what is surely the funniest LOL'S of the thread. Would seem like a back the **** off to anyone who dares enter our solar system!!

Here's the full deal. Those greetings at the start are amazing when you think about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROMKbthmyOU

hatrickpatrick

Adamantium wrote: »

"Given Russia's ongoing violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, NASA is suspending the majority of its ongoing engagements with the Russian Federation."

I have a real problem with this to be honest. Managing to find hospitable planets apart from our own and then figuring out how to get there is essential to the indefinite continuation of the entire human race, it's an issue of importance that transcends whatever political bullsh!t we manage to create and I for one feel that scientists should pay it absolutely no mind and work together for the best scientific outcome possible. Screw the politics. Politics won't matter when the Earth is eventually being consumed by an expanding sun, but having somewhere else to go sure will.

ScumLord

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrothermal_vent#Biological_communities

If the moon has hydrothermal vents, and given that it's proximity to satun is probably compressing the moon giving it a molten core, it seems likely. Then there certainly could be life on there as we have evidence of the same happening here on earth.

AllGunsBlazing

If there is life out there then its probably for the best that we never find it.

Knowing us we'd probably step on it accidentally. I really think it is in nature's plan to keep us all hidden from each other for our own good.

Capt'n Midnight

josip wrote: »

And it's all running on Plutonium-238 which we're no longer producing in sufficient quantities to power anything after 2022

Solar power will work out as far as Jupiter, Juno is en route.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1105/29junosolar/

So Saturn should be possible too, it's twice as far away so you'd need 4 times as many panels or mirrors. Tricky but not impossible.