Heat From Enceladus

Scientists using Cassini spacecraft data have determined that the heat source powering the geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus is several times stronger than they had thought. In fact, they now calculate the geothermal heat powering Enceladus' geysers is about 2.6 times the source powering all the geysers in Yellowstone National Park.

The presence of so much heat in the interior of the moon strengthens the case for a huge liquid water ocean within the ice shell that makes up the surface. The case for life is also strengthened. If Enceladus has a huge amount of liquid water, organic compounds, and a significant internal energy source, life may require only time and a relatively stable environment to emerge and endure.

Scientists, however, aren't sure where the heat comes from. The postulate it may be a product of gravitational tidal interactions among Saturn, Enceladus, and another Saturnian moon, Dione. That interaction may change over time, and we may be seeing a high point. Whether the ocean would reduce in size at a low point may be another question.

China's Space Station Plans

A spokesman for China's space program has announced China has a busy decade planned. First, it will master both manned and unmanned rendezvous and docking in Earth orbit. Starting perhaps in 2013, two small outposts will be launched consecutively, supporting three man crews on 20- and 40-day missions, respectively.

Then, in 2020-22, China plans to orbit a 60-ton, long-duration space station. China will open that station to scientists from around the world. Chinese docking hardware will also be compatible with ISS hardware, enabling cooperation and enhancing safety.

STS-133

Space shuttle Discovery's final mission, STS-133, has, so far, been quietly successful, just as everyone involved in such missions want them to go. Discovery is scheduled to undock from ISS early tomorrow morning after delivering a pile of supplies to the station. Discovery is slated to return to Earh for the last time March 9.

There are only two more flights in the shuttle era.

Climate Satellite Lost

Early this morning, NASA lost a satellite when the nose cone of the Taurus XL launcher carrying the satellite failed to separate, leaving the vehicle too heavy to reach orbit. It was the second consecutive failure for a Taurus XL.

The lost satellite, called "Glory," was to measure the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere-- both natural and artificial-- and to measure solar energy entering the atmosphere. Aerosols deflect escaping energy back down into the atmosphere, thus playing a role in the global warming debate, which at some point became the climate change debate. Glory was designed to get more data to allow a better basis for understanding the Earth's complex and dynamic atmosphere. Now, getting that data will be delayed.

X-37B

The second flight of the U. S. Air Force's secretive unmanned space vehicle, the X-37B, is set for tomorrow afternoon from Cape Canaveral. Of course, keeping a space launch secret is next to impossible, so the USAF doesn't really try, but it doesn't share what the X-37B does in orbit. The vehicle, which resembles a small space shuttle, complete with payload bay, launches atop an Atlas 5 rocket, but glides home, landing itself on a runway. It can stay in space for months, generating its electricity through a solar power array, which would put an upper limit on the amount of energy it requires.

The program was originally pursued by NASA, but was shifted to the Defense Department, and on to the USAF, for budgetary reasons.

Budget Manipulations

The biggest problem facing the U. S. Government today likely is getting control of spending. That likely demands at least some cuts. A government shutdown beginning Friday is still possible, but there seems to be a deal in the works to push that deadline back two weeks.

That two weeks, if all goes well, will get the government beyond the current shuttle mission, but the essential work of government would go on even during a shutdown. Supporting a manned mission already underway, like ISS, would qualify as essential work, but supporting unmanned missions and continuing research projects may not.

So, a government shutdown could have serious implications not only for NASA and its workforce, but for science, as well. Ideally, the politicians in charge will find a way through the thicket that avoids an interruption.

Planets A-Plenty

Scientists working with NASA's Kepler planet-hunting spacecraft have made a preliminary estimate of the number of planets in the Milky Way galaxy. They put the number at 50 billion, with 500 million possible Earth-like worlds.

That comes out to roughly every other star in the galaxy having one planet. That's obviously not literally the case. The Sun, for example, has eight planets (at least), and we already have evidence of other planetary systems, so in fact planets probably exist around certain types of stars and not around other types.

Still, those numbers suggest life could be common in the galaxy, and that those few species that master interstellar travel would have lots of places to visit.