(Source: Enceladus)
Liquid ethane found on Titan; NASA looks for a new company to make its next-gen spacesuit
A NASA spacecraft studying Saturn has discovered liquid ethane on Titan, one of Saturn's largest moons. The NASA Cassini spacecraft has been studying Saturn and its moons for more than four years, and just recently made the discovery on Titan. At least one lake on Titan is made up of liquid ethane after a spectrometer aboard Cassini collected data during a flyby.
Ontario Lacus on Titan is a tad bit bigger than Earth's Lake Ontario, and this marks the first time researchers were able to accurately say the moon contained liquid.
"This is the first definitive evidence for both liquid and liquid hydrocarbons on Titan," said Robert Brown, lead study author and professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona, Tuscon.
Titan becomes the first area in Earth's solar system to have traces of liquid water easily detectable directly on the surface. Instruments currently deployed on the Red Planet of Mars have found traces of ice crumbs on Mars, but researchers had to land on the planet before confirming its existence.
A company selected by NASA in June to provide the U.S. space agency with its next-generation spacesuit has had its contract terminated, NASA officials reported last week. Oceaneering International had its contract halted because of a compliance issue that was not publicly revealed by the company or NASA. The agreement between both parties called for a total of 109 spacesuits for a reported $745 million sum.
United Technologies Corp's Hamilton Sundstrand, which has provided spacesuits to NASA since 1981, will once again have another crack and continuing its partnership with NASA.
NASA is working with contractors to create the Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) suit that can be used both aboard the International Space Station and on possible manned missions on the lunar surface.
Extremely high-quality photos will hopefully help astronomers try and figure out how a moon that essentially is a large ice ball is able to have vapor and ice particles shoot out of geysers. The NASA Cassini spacecraft recently completed a flyby of the moon's surface while traveling 64,000 miles per hour, in an attempt to help learn more about one of the locations in our solar system that could possibly have life.
The resolution of the image is 10 times better than previous images, with seven meters offered per pixel, NASA officials said. Astronomers are able to observe fissures that are up to 1,000 feet deep on Enceladus.
Saturn's moon has carbon, water vapor, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide on its surface, which has excited astronomers, who believe there is a small possibility the moon could support life. Cassini focused specifically on the South Pole of the moon, and NASA has two more similar missions planned for the moon in the fall.
“They are the most astounding images of any planetary surface that our cameras have so far taken,” said Carolyn Porco, leader of Cassini’s imaging team. The photos were taken using a special technique called “skeet-shooting".
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