mentioned that we were speculating that these jets might 18 in fact be geysers, and erupting from pockets or chambers 19 of liquid water underneath the surface, but we weren't 20 really sure. However, the implications of those results -- of 21 a possible environment within this moon that could 22 support prebiotic chemistry, and perhaps life itself -- were 23 so exciting that, in the intervening two years, we have 24 focused more on Enceladus. 25 We've flown the Cassini Spacecraft by this moon now 26 several times, flying closer and deeper into these jets, into 27 the denser regions of these jets, so that now we have come 28 away with some very precise compositional measurements. 29 And we have found that the organic compounds coming 30 from this moon are in fact more complex than we 31 previously reported. While they're not amino acids, we're 32 now finding things like propane and benzene, hydrogen 33 cyanide, and formaldehyde. And the tiny water crystals here 34 now look for all the world like they are frozen droplets of 35 salty water, which is a discovery that suggests that not only 36 do the jets come from pockets of liquid water, but that that 37 Notes: liquid water is in contact with rock. And that is a 38 circumstance that could supply the chemical energy and 39 the chemical compounds needed to sustain life. 40 So we are very encouraged by these results. And we are 41 much more confident now than we were two years ago that 42
18 mentioned that we were speculating that these jets might 19 in fact be geysers, and erupting from pockets or chambers 20 of liquid water underneath the surface, but we weren't 21 really sure. However, the implications of those results -- of 22 a possible environment within this moon that could 23 support prebiotic chemistry, and perhaps life itself -- were 24 so exciting that, in the intervening two years, we have 25 focused more on Enceladus. 26 We've flown the Cassini Spacecraft by this moon now 27 several times, flying closer and deeper into these jets, into 28 the denser regions of these jets, so that now we have come 29 away with some very precise compositional measurements. 30 And we have found that the organic compounds coming 31 from this moon are in fact more complex than we 32 previously reported. While they're not amino acids, we're 33 now finding things like propane and benzene, hydrogen 34 cyanide, and formaldehyde. And the tiny water crystals here 35 now look for all the world like they are frozen droplets of 36 salty water, which is a discovery that suggests that not only 37 do the jets come from pockets of liquid water, but that that Notes: 38 liquid water is in contact with rock. And that is a 39 circumstance that could supply the chemical energy and 40 the chemical compounds needed to sustain life. 41 So we are very encouraged by these results. And we are 42 much more confident now than we were two years ago that
Fluency_Packet_4-5.docx