Planetary Lunch Seminar – Shannon MacKenzie (APL)

Title: Enceladus Orbilander: What might the search for evidence of life look like in the next decade?

Abstract: Cassini revealed Saturn’s moon Enceladus as the host of a subsurface ocean where the key factors of habitability appear to be collocated. A return mission is needed to determine if that
habitability potential supports life, but how should such a search for life be conducted? What biosignatures might we target? What geochemical and geophysical investigations would provide the
context most useful for interpreting biosignature searches? In preparation for the 2023‐2032 Decadal Survey, we explored what Flagship‐class (>$2B) missions answering these questions might look like. In this talk, I’ll describe how we defined the driving science goals and objectives, selected a representative payload, and evaluated the science value of different architectures. I’ll then present the result of our study, Orbilander, a mission concept where a single spacecraft first orbited and then landed, and why it represents a compelling option for returning to Enceladus to search for life.

About this Series: The MIT Planetary Lunch Seminar [PLS] is a weekly seminar series organized within the EAPS department. Colloquia topics span the range of research interests of the department’s planetary sciences research program. The seminars take place on Tuesdays from 12:30–1:30 pm, unless otherwise noted (term-time only). Speakers include members of the MIT community and visitors. Talks are intended to appeal to graduate students, postdocs, research scientists, and faculty with a background in planetary science. Contact: planetary-org@mit.edu.