NASA releases first-ever photo of liquid on another world

NASA scientists released a first-of-its-kind image from space showing reflecting sunlight from a lake on Saturn's largest moon, Titan on 24^th December 09.

·         NASA photo from Cassini probe is first-ever of liquid on another world, says scientist

·         Image shows sun reflecting from a lake on Saturn's moon, Titan

·         Planets with liquid are thought to be more likely to develop life

·         Scientists have been studying Titan because of its similarities to Earth

It's the first visual "smoking gun" evidence of liquid on the northern hemisphere of the moon, scientists said, and the first-ever photo from another world showing a " specular reflection" -- which is reflection of light from an extremely smooth surface and in this case, a liquid one.

"This is the first time outside Earth we've seen specular reflection from another liquid from another body," said Ralf Jaumann, a scientist analyzing data from the Cassini unmanned space probe.

Jaumann said he was surprised when he first saw the photos transmitting from Cassini, orbiting Saturn about a billion miles from Earth.

"It was great because if you look at photos of planets, you mostly see nothing is happening. But in two hours we saw a glint of light getting brighter."

Titan's similarities to Earth have attracted NASA's attention for decades. It's the only body besides our own in the solar system that is believed to have liquid on its surface. Like Earth, Titan has an atmosphere which is mostly nitrogen.

NASA’s Cassini finds 60th Moon of Saturn

Scientists have found a new moon hidden in one of Saturn's dazzling outer rings. The international Cassini spacecraft spotted the moon, which measures about a third of a mile wide. The discovery was announced Tuesday in a notice by the International Astronomical Union.

Researchers have long puzzled over the formation of Saturn's G ring, one of the planet's more mysterious arcs. They now think the G ring was likely formed from icy debris that scattered when meteorites crash into the newfound moon.

Scientists confirmed the moon's existence last summer after analyzing images from Cassini. Saturn has over 60 moons.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) plan new missions to Jupiter, Saturn

The US space agency NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) ahead with proposals to send ambitious new missions to explore Jupiter, Saturn and many moons that circle the planets, the agencies announced.

The proposed projects are grand endeavours that set the stage for future planetary science research. These outer-planet flagship missions could eventually answer questions about how our Solar System formed and whether habitable conditions exist elsewhere in the Solar System.

The missions, called the Europa Jupiter System Mission and the Titan Saturn System Mission, are the result of the merger of separate NASA and ESA mission concepts.The missions include sending multiple spacecraft to the Jupiter and Saturn systems to explore the planets and their unique satellites, such as Jupiter's ice-covered Europa and Saturn's shrouded moon Titan.

The first mission to fly would be aimed at Jupiter. Dubbed the Europa Jupiter System Mission, it would send two orbiting spacecraft to study the planet and its large moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto in unprecedented detail, NASA officials said on Wednesday.

New exploration challenges at Jupiter and Saturn
NASA would build one orbiter, the Jupiter Europa, while ESA would provide the other, Jupiter Ganymede. The spacecraft would launch in 2020 from different spaceports with the goal of reaching Jupiter by 2026 and spending three years studying the planet and its moons, NASA said.

Like the proposed Jupiter mission, the Saturn expedition would consist of both NASA and European spacecraft.

Dubbed the Titan Saturn System mission, the flagship flight would include a NASA-built orbiter to study Saturn and its moons, as well as European lander and research balloon to continue the exploration of the planet's cloud-covered moon Titan. Saturn's moon Enceladus, which harbours ice-spewing geysers, is also a major target for that mission.

Several technical hurdles must be overcome before the Saturn expedition can launch, and will require more study and technology development before the mission can move forward, NASA said.

Meanwhile, the Cassini orbiter managed by NASA, ESA and the Italian Space Agency is currently in orbit around Saturn, where it has been studying the planet and its many moons since it arrived in June 2004. The orbiter's European-built Huygens lander successfully touched down on Titan's surface in January 2005. Mission managers are pushing to extend Cassini's flight by seven years to 2017.