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Exploration of Enceladus and Titan: investigating ocean worlds’ evolution and habitability in the Saturn system

2021; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 54; Issue: 2-3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/s10686-021-09772-2

1572-9508

Giuseppe Mitri, Jason W. Barnes, A. Coustenis, E. Flamini, A. G. Hayes, R. D. Lorenz, Marco Mastrogiuseppe, R. Orosei, Frank Postberg, K. Reh, J. M. Soderblom, C. Sotin, G. Tobie, Paolo Tortora, V. Vuitton, P. Wurz,

Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies

Abstract We present a White Paper with a science theme concept of ocean world evolution and habitability proposed in response to ESA’s Voyage 2050 Call with a focus on Titan and Enceladus in the Saturn system. Ocean worlds in the outer Solar System that possess subsurface liquid water oceans are considered to be prime targets for extra-terrestrial life and offer windows into Solar System evolution and habitability. The Cassini-Huygens mission to the Saturn system (2004–2017) revealed Titan with its organic-rich evolving world with terrestrial features and Enceladus with its active aqueous environment to be ideal candidates to investigate ocean world evolution and habitability. Additionally, this White Paper presents a baseline for a multiple flyby mission with a focused payload as an example of how ocean world evolution and habitability in the Saturn system could be investigated building on the heritage of the Cassini-Huygens mission and complementing the recently selected NASA Dragonfly mission.