Page 12 - BBC Sky at Night - September 2017 UK

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NEWS IN Enceladus is thought
to host a global
BRIEF subsurface ocean
– there might still
be life yet

UK BOOSTS
SPACE SECTOR
The UK government has
pledged over £100
million to grow the nation’s
satellite production
industry. Most of the
money will be used to
extend the National
Satellite Testing Facility
in Oxfordshire, with
additional funding
UK/RAINER SCHOEDEL UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA SPAIN/ INCENT GEERS UKATC/RAY JAYAWARDHANA YORK UNIVERSITY CANADA/JOANA ASCENSO UNIVERSITY OF LISBON UNIVERSITY OF PORTO PORTUGAL/
RAL SPACE, NASA/JPL/UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA/UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO, NASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE, KORALJKA MUZICUNIVERSITY OF LISBON PORTUGAL/ALEKS SCHOLZ UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS
going to a rocket motor
production and testing
centre in Wescott,
Surprise methanol found around
LUCAS CIEZA UNIVERSITY DIEGO PORTALES SANTIAGO CHILE, ESA–C. CARREAU, ILLUSTRATION BY ZHENYANG XIA/UW-MADISON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE Buckinghamshire. “Having
access to a National
Satellite Facility will
help companies
develop and encourage
new business to come
to the UK,” says Enceladus
Graham Turnock,
chief executive of the
UK Space Agency. Suggestions that the molecule might signify life now seem unlikely

Methanol has been detected at Enceladus from The researchers suggest that the unexpectedly
Earth for the first time, a finding that suggests large amount of methanol was either trapped by
the chemical may not be an indicator for Saturn’s magnetic field, or had spread further
extraterrestrial life after all. out into Saturn’s E ring than expected. In both
It was NASA’s Cassini spacecraft that scenarios, the methanol is greater than what
revealed the water plumes that erupt from can be explained from the plumes alone.
TINY WAVES, this moon of Saturn and feed into the “Observations aren’t always straightforward.
TINY WINDS? planet’s E ring were rich in methanol, but To interpret our results, we needed the wealth of
The waves on the methane at a level so low it could not be detected from information Cassini gave us about Enceladus’s
lakes of Saturn’s moon Earth. Detection from terra firma – made environment,” says David Clements from
Titan are only 1cm high, by researchers looking for completely Imperial College London, who was also on the
according to the latest different molecules using the IRAM 30m team. “This study suggests a degree of caution
research on Cassini
images. It’s encouraging millimetre radio telescope in the Spanish needs to be taken when reporting on the
news for those hoping Sierra Nevadas – implies there is much more presence of molecules that could be interpreted
for a future mission to of it than scientists had imagined. as evidence for life.”
the moon. “There’s a lot “Recent discoveries that icy moons in The ability to observe such complex
of interest in one day our outer Solar System could host oceans chemistry from Earth will be a boon to
sending probes to the of liquid water and ingredients for life astronomers hoping to continue their studies of
lakes, and when that’s have sparked exciting possibilities for the moon after the end of the Cassini mission on
done, you want to have their habitability,” says Emily Drabek- 15 September. To truly appreciate Enceladus,
a safe landing, and you Maunder from Cardiff University, who though, a more direct approach will be needed.
don’t want a lot of was part of the team. “But in this case, our “To understand the complex chemistry
wind. Our study shows
that because the waves findings suggest that methanol is being created in these subsurface oceans, we will need
aren’t very high, the by further chemical reactions once further direct observations by future spacecraft
winds are likely low,” the plume is ejected into space, making it flying through Enceladus’s plumes,” says
says Cyril Grima from unlikely it is an indication for life on Drabek-Maunder.
the University of Texas, Enceladus,” says Drabek-Maunder. www.iram-institute.org
who led the study.

skyatnightmagazine.com 2017