New study throws doubts on liquid water on Enceladus

[j d worthington]

There's some new debate springing up (you should pardon the expression) on this issue:

Study doubts liquid water on Saturn moon - Yahoo! News

Again, the writer is Alicia Chang, the dateline is Thursday, Dec. 14, the title is, simply "Study doubts liquid water on Saturn moon":

SAN FRANCISCO - New research casts doubt on the existence of water near the surface of a tiny Saturn moon — a finding that, if confirmed, could set back the hunt for extraterrestrial life.

Earlier this year, the international Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn caused a stir when it spied what appeared to be Yellowstone-like geysers spouting from the south pole of Enceladus. Scientists speculated the eruptions were driven by shallow pools of water lurking just below the icy surface.

In an alternative view published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, other researchers propose that buried ice clathrates — not liquid water — are responsible for releasing the towering plumes through a sudden tectonic shift in the crust that causes cracks in the ice and gas to vent.

The study doesn't address whether liquid might be present anywhere else on the moon, said lead author Susan Kieffer, a planetary scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who has studied geysers on Earth and on the moons of Jupiter and Neptune.

However, the debate continues.....

 

[Perpetual Man]

Very interesting, as these posts always are. But surely there is no definate way of proving the water exists or doesn't without going there...