Senior Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
Life on Other Worlds
Mars has long been the primary target for the search for a second genesis of life beyond Earth. Now interest in the search for life has expanded to the subsurface oceans of the outer Solar System: particularly on Europa and Enceladus. Analysis of the plume of Enceladus by the Cassini Spacecraft indicates a habitable organic-rich ocean. Samples from the plume may be comparatively easy to obtain on future flythrough and sample return missions.