NASA Cassini Orbiter Finds Sea on Saturn Moon

Known as one of the most ambitious space missions, the Cassini orbiter reached Saturn in 2004 and began orbiting the ringed planet and its many moons. After nearly ten years of exploring, Cassini discovered a sea under ice on the moon Enceladus.

The Cassini orbiter is armed with powerful instruments and cameras for its 27 investigations. The orbiter is accompanied by the Huygens probe, which carries six instruments compared to Cassini's 12. The orbiter and probe make up the mission's spacecraft. It has the ability to communicate through one high-gain and two low-gain antennas.

Cassini's discovery was published in the journal Science earlier today. The study's lead author, Luciano Iess of Sapienza University of Rome, spoke to reporters today about the study and its findings. Iess, along with colleagues and researchers, said the orbiter found a sea of liquid water buried under 19 to 25 miles of ice on Saturn's moon Enceladus. They know it is at least six miles deep, and believe it is equivalent or greater in size than Lake Superior.

Another moon within our solar system is also believed to possess a body or bodies of water. Experts reported that Jupiter's moon Europa was spewing water into space last December. This discovery prompted NASA to begin seeking $15 million in funding to plan and construct a mission to Europa. These findings provide more evidence for extraterrestrial marine life.

Jonathan Lunine is the director of the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research at Cornell University and is also part of the team that wrote the published paper on Cassini's discovery. He and his colleagues are excited with the news because it opens the door to a whole new world of possibilities.

"We just need to be more aggressive in getting the next generation of spacecraft both to Europa and to the Saturn system once the Cassini mission is over," he said in this Newsweek article.

The most surprising aspect of the whole discovery is not that of the water, it's the fact that the mass and geometry of the body of water were unknown until the team applied their calculations and unveiled its enormity.

To read more about the Cassini Orbiter's discovery, visit this NBC News article.