Abstract
Abstract Enceladus’s long-lived plume of ice grains and water vapor makes accessing oceanic material readily achievable from orbit (around Saturn or Enceladus) and from the moon’s surface. In preparation for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine 2023–2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey, we investigated four architectures capable of collecting and analyzing plume material from orbit and/or on the surface to address the most pressing questions at Enceladus: Is the subsurface ocean inhabited? Why, or why not? Trades specific to these four architectures were studied to allow an evaluation of the science return with respect to investment. The team found that Orbilander, a mission concept that would first orbit and then land on Enceladus, represented the best balance. Orbilander was thus studied at a higher fidelity, including a more detailed science operations plan during both orbital and landed phases, landing site characterization and selection analyses, and landing procedures. The Orbilander mission concept demonstrates that scientifically compelling but resource-conscious Flagship-class missions can be executed in the next decade to search for life at Enceladus.
Highlights
Saturns moon Enceladus offers the unique opportunity to conduct in situ analyses of a habitable subsurface ocean without drilling or melting through kilometers of ice
2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey, we investigated four Flagship-class (>$1B, directed) mission architectures that would enter into Enceladus orbit to search for evidence of life in plume samples acquired from orbit and/ or on the surface
In this paper we describe the motivation and choices behind the Enceladus Orbilander mission concept
Summary
Saturns moon Enceladus offers the unique opportunity to conduct in situ analyses of a habitable subsurface ocean without drilling or melting through kilometers of ice. The science and engineering aspects of each mission architecture were evaluated in a trade study (Concept Maturity Level 3, CML 3; Wessen et al 2013) to determine which of the four architectures represented the highest science return per dollar. The result from this trade study, the Orbilander concept, in which a single spacecraft conducts. We summarize the results of the CML 3 trade study and the CML 4 pointdesign study and provide more detailed commentary on the study methodology and selection criteria
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