The µMoon project has its scientific background in the findings of NASA’s Cassini space probe. 2005, the probe discovered fountains of ice and water vapour erupting from the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. These so called plumes led to the assumption that there is an ocean of liquid water beneath the icy crust of the moon.
Since then the interest in Enceladus and other icy moons in our solar system rose significantly, as many science branches enhanced the theory by further study of Cassini’s data. By now, it is assumed that Enceladus has a solid core and eventual hydrothermal activity.
All this could lead to Enceladus potentially being able of developing microbiologic life like it happened on Earth.
While aiming to investigate the water of Enceladus, the plumes turn out to be worth for further research approaches.
This is the point where µMoon steps in as it shall verify a model of the plume behavior and, if the results are positive, thus prove that the plumes should be probed in the future for disclosing the secrets Enceladus might house.
