Cassini Sniffs Organic Chemicals Leaking into Space from Saturn Moon, Enceladus

Source: NASA / Cassini-Huygens

During a flyby of the small moon on March 12th, the Cassini probe detected significant amounts of organic chemicals as it flew through powerful geyser-like jets of ice blasting into space. This active moon appears to be generating organic chemicals much like the substances found in comets. As Cassini bravely travelled through the plume at a speed of 32,000 mph, it was able to take some indirect measurements of the density of the gas from the surprising amount of torque applied to spacecraft. Fortunately the craft was undamaged as the particles bounced off its bodywork…

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