Cassini finds Saturnian moon, Enceladus, probably has liquid water.

With newly discovered signs of liquid water, a moon of Saturn joins the small, highly select group of places in the solar system that could plausibly support life.

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NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Space Science Institute
Enceladus, Saturn's fourth-largest moon, is only 300 miles wide.

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NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Space Science Institute
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted plumes of icy crystals shooting off Enceladus near its south pole, seen in this enhanced image. That suggests pockets of liquid water exist near the surface, and makes the moon a new target in the search for life in the solar system.
The moon, Enceladus, is only 300 miles wide, and usually something that small is nothing more than a frozen chunk of ice and rock. Instead, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted eruptions of icy crystals, which hint at pockets of liquid water near the surface.

"It's startling," said Carolyn C. Porco of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., leader of the imaging team for Cassini. Nine scientific papers about Enceladus (pronounced en-SELL-ah-dus), appear in today's issue of Science. "I wouldn't be surprised to see the planetary community clamoring for a future exploratory expedition to land on the south polar terrain of Enceladus," said Dr. Porco, lead author of one of the papers. "We have found an environment that is potentially suitable for living organisms..."

...Planetary scientists pointed to the discovery as an argument for continuing NASA's space science efforts. The agency's proposed budget would cut $3 billion from space science over the next five years to help pay for the completion of the space station and plans to send astronauts back to Earth's Moon. NASA's astrobiology institute, which finances research on the possibility of life elsewhere in the solar system and universe, is to see its budget cut in half...