RESCHEDULED: Exploring Ocean Worlds

Morgan L. Cable, Ocean Worlds Program Area Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Our solar system is host to multiple ocean worlds - planets and moons that contain oceans of liquid, usually water, either on their surfaces or underneath icy crusts. These worlds are prime targets of exploration due to NASA’s quest to ‘follow the water’ and may contain all three ingredients for life as we know it - water, chemistry, and energy. Could life exist in the oceans of Enceladus or Europa? Could even stranger life have emerged in the liquid methane lakes of Titan? We will cover our current state of knowledge of these ocean worlds, including experimental work conducted in labs here on Earth to investigate the unusual cryomineralogy of Titan. We will also discuss some current missions and future mission concepts to explore these worlds’ plumes, surfaces, and ocean depths.

Host: Bill McKinnon

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