Year: 2018-19
Karam Mhanna
School: Universal College Aley
City: Beirut
Teacher: Diala Hassan
Have you ever imagined being an astronaut and landing on one of Saturn’s largest moons? Enceladus is the sixth largest moon of Saturn.
It is mostly covered in ice, making it one of the most reflective objects of the solar system. NASA should dig deeper into this freezing type of moon in order to solve its mysteries and maybe even discover something new.
Enceladus is known as the most reflective surface in the solar system. Recent researches indicate that Enceladus reflects about 90 percent of the sunlight that hits it. This high reflectivity is caused by a very smooth surface of fresh water ice is extremetly frigid. This characteristic makes this moon a very interesting study case.
Because Enceladus reflects so much sunlight, the surface temperature
Enceladus joined the small group of moons known to have an atmosphere.
Enceladus is by far the smallest moon to have a gaseous covering, and it is said that it may extend hundreds of kilometres from the surface. The Cassini spacecraft, currently orbiting Saturn, has found a layer of water vapour surrounding the icy moon. Enceladus has a very interesting atmosphere especially for a moon.
After long studies, scientists believed that Enceladus is capable of containing life. Hydrogen is of
immense significance because its presence along with hot water and rock would enable microbes to create a living dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with dissolved hydrogen, this produces methane and water. This chemical reaction releases energy that organisms can use to drive their metabolism.
Now that Enceladus has all the important ingredients to make this happen, the only lacking piece is proof of life itself.
Enceladus has become one of few important moons by being the best reflective moon identified to man, having a captivating atmosphere, and having the possibility of being habitable. In my opinion, all these factors make Enceladus worth studying further, and expanding our knowledge about this astonishing moon."
