Cassini Completes Primary Mission to Saturn
	Exactly four years ago the Cassini-Huygens mission reached the Saturnian system and entered orbit around the ringed planet, in order to make a series of observations that would astonish the world. It is probably one of the most successful robotic missions to one of the gas giants conducted by NASA and the ESA and was concluded yesterday, as the US space agency stated that the spacecraft had accomplished its primary objective and would emba ... [read more >>]
	02 July 2008, 03:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Europa's Poles May Have Shifted to the Equator
	Jupiter's Europa moon is covered by an icy outer shell believed to be housing a global ocean beneath it, where life could exist. New observations on the moon's surface reveal that the icy shell might have shifted as much as 80 degrees in a matter of only 60 million years, supporting the idea that an ocean may indeed lie under the icy crust. As spheres spin, most of the centrifugal force concentrates towards the equat ... [read more >>]
	15 May 2008, 05:21GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Life May be Present on Saturn's Enceladus
	While looking for evidence of life on other bodies in the solar system, researchers often evaluate the degree of habitability relying on the presence of water, sunlight, oxygen and so on. However, in the last decades, we came to learn that none of these three basic ingredients is absolutely required in order to sustain life. For example, on Earth, microbes may be found several kilometers underground, living without the need for oxygen or l ... [read more >>]
	21 April 2008, 04:54GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Cassini to Whiz Around Saturn Until 2010
	NASA announced, in a recent statement, that the Cassini mission was extended by at least two years, in order to conduct more detailed studies of Saturn's exotic moons. The Cassini spacecraft along with the Huygens probe was launched into space in October 1997 and arrived at the Saturnian system in June 2004. Its original mission was scheduled to span over a period of four years, meaning that it will officially end in the mon ... [read more >>]
	16 April 2008, 04:19GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA: Cassini Out of Our Control
	Don't worry. The famous probe is not out of control, however NASA will turn over control of the spacecraft to students during June 10, in a contest with the role of raising the interest of the youth in science. The contest will be attended by students from the 5th to 12th grades, that will write essays to NASA in order to determine which of the three science targets will be photographed by the orbiter on June 10. Usually, engineer ... [read more >>]
	05 April 2008, 04:22GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Cassini Finds Precursors for Life on Enceladus
	The results of the fly-by made by the Cassini orbiter around Saturn's moon Enceladus reveal that the plume of water vapor above its surface is rich in primitive organic molecules necessary for the appearance and evolution of life as we know it. On 12 March the probe was sent in a fly-by at an altitude of 50 kilometers above the surface, to make detailed measurements of the watery plume regarding composition, density and particles size ... [read more >>]
	27 March 2008, 04:01GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Saturn's Tethys Had an Ocean
	What is now a massive ball of ice around Saturn, the moon Tethys had an ocean at some point in its past, say researchers at the University of California present at a major science conference in Houston. Tethys is only one of the 60 or so natural satellites orbiting around Saturn, has a medium size and an average density close to that of pure water ice in normal atmospheric conditions. The theory that it might have had an ocea ... [read more >>]
	15 March 2008, 08:12GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Cassini Takes a Plunge Over Enceladus
	In the outcome of previous observations showing that Saturn's moon Enceladus ejects matter out of the geysers on its surface, the Cassini spacecraft executed, on Wednesday, a fly-by through the water ice plume hovering above it. During the swing, Cassini took numerous pictures of the surface of the moon and made several measurements related to it characteristics, such as composition, density, speed, size and others. Alth ... [read more >>]
	14 March 2008, 05:42GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Cassini to Explore Enceladus' Water Plume
	The Cassini spacecraft is scheduled tomorrow for a unique fly-by around Saturn's moon Enceladus, to probe in detail the nature of the water plume originating from geysers on the surface in regions around the south pole of the moon. During the fly-by, Cassini will reach an altitude of only 50 kilometers above the surface, while the plume can extend as much as 200 kilometers into space. In the outcome of the discovery of water ... [read more >>]
	11 March 2008, 05:35GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Saturn's Vacuum Cleaner
	It is a well known fact that Saturn's ring E is interacting with the moon Enceladus, and might have been created by drawing material ejected through cryo-volcanism phenomenons taking place of the surface of the moon. However, new observations conducted by NASA's Cassini orbiter reveal that icy plumes of material could also be delivered to the most distant ring in relation to Enceladus, ring A, situated 100,000 kilometer ... [read more >>]
	07 February 2008, 03:47GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Water on Enceladus?
	Images of one of Saturn's moon, brought back by NASA's Cassini orbiter, have recently spawn some of the most fierce debates regarding the solar system exploration program. German astrophysicists argue that there is conclusive evidence that Enceladus, a small moon measuring only 504 kilometers in diameter, may have liquid water beneath its surface. Enceladus presents a surface covered by a bright white shell of water ... [read more >>]
	07 February 2008, 02:50GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Cassini Confirms 25 Year Old Prediction
	It seems that the spacecraft Cassini-Huygens has been rather busy lately, as scientists are now flooding us with new information regarding planet Saturn. The spacecraft, designed in a collaboration between the European Space Agency and NASA, is currently being operated by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and has recently discovered that Saturn presents a doughnut shape around it, which consists of an electric field of plasma. A simi ... [read more >>]
	13 December 2007, 08:44GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

First Evidence of Possible Alien Life
	Well, there is evidence of water on Enceladus' surface but the real question is still whether there are any life forms present there or not. While doing a survey of Saturn's tiny moon, the Cassini-Huygens probe detected a hot spot on the old moon's surface, which usually has a temperature lower than that of cold ice. The Cassini-Huygens probe has as primary mission the study of the Saturn planet and its moon Titan. The ho ... [read more >>]
	11 December 2007, 03:04GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Saturn: The Freak Show of The Solar System
	Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, is a gas giant and the second largest in the solar system. Its weird properties, its rings and its large number of moons – the precise figure is uncertain – make the Saturnian system a freak show, attracting the attention of amateur and professional astronomers worldwide. First of all, it's not a sphere, being flattened at the poles and bulky at the equator. The Earth is no ... [read more >>]
	02 June 2007, 07:12GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Geysers from Saturn's Moon Impede Measuring the Giant's Day Length
	A small leak will sink a great ship... Enceladus, one of the Saturn's small moons, is slowing down the giant planet's magnetic field so much that the field rotates at a lower pace than the planet, making it nearly impossible to determine Saturn's day length employing methods used for other giant planets, like Jupiter, Uranus or Neptune. "No one could have predicted that the little moon Enceladus would have such an ... [read more >>]
	23 March 2007, 04:57GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Radioactivity Behind Geysers on Enceladus
	Ancient radioactivity is suspected to have fired billions of years ago the forces that fuel geysers on Saturn's moon, Enceladus. "Deep inside Enceladus, our model indicates we've got an organic brew, a heat source and liquid water, all key ingredients for life," said Dr. Dennis Matson, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "And while no one is claiming t ... [read more >>]
	13 March 2007, 03:54GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia