Europe to launch ambitious mission to Saturn’s icy moon in search of life

The European Space Agency (ESA) is set to realize its long-term goal of exploring the signs of life on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus by sending spacecraft under the new Voyage 2050 mission.

Enceladus is considered one of most challenging and intriguing moons in the solar system.

NASA’s Cassini probe made the discoveries of water ice plumes erupting from the moon’s south polar region between 2005 and 2015, hinting at an environment suitable for harboring life on Saturn.

Now, ESA is planning to explore mysterious Enceladus as part of its Voyage 2050 for life-hunting mission as announced by officials at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) and Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) joint meeting.

The new mission will require a lander and an orbiter to examine Enceladus comprehensively. More interestingly, the orbiter will collect the material and analyse it which is collected from the moon’s water ice plumes.

The mission will be adopted in 2034 and launched around 2042. The spacecraft would land on Saturn in 2053, initiating a tour of Enceladus and other moons. During the tour, it would collect plume materials and prepare for landing around 2058.

According to Jörn Helbert of ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), the Enceladus mission will enhance European expertise in scientific and technological domains.