Science & Nature · 2

Which joint NASA-ESA spacecraft mission discovered organic chemicals in the water-ice plumes erupting from Saturn's moon Enceladus?

Answer

Cassini-Huygens

The Cassini orbiter, part of the Cassini-Huygens mission launched in 1997, repeatedly sampled Enceladus's south polar plumes with its onboard instruments, identifying organic molecules and other chemistry consistent with a habitable subsurface ocean.

💡 Did you know?

Cassini-Huygens found organic chemicals in Saturn's moon Enceladus's ocean geysers, suggesting life conditions exist within our own solar system.

Other options people guess

  • Voyager 2
  • Galileo
  • New Horizons

Topics

  • space-missions
  • saturn
  • astrobiology
  • nasa

Know your science & nature trivia?

Play a free Science & Nature quiz and see how many you get right — no signup needed to start.

More Science & Nature facts

Science & Nature

Which icy moon of Saturn did NASA's Cassini spacecraft find spewing ocean geysers laced with organic chemicals?

Cassini-Huygens found organic chemicals in Saturn's moon Enceladus's ocean geysers, suggesting life conditions exist within our own solar system.

Science & Nature

Why did NASA engineers permanently switch off Voyager 1's cameras shortly after February 1990?

Voyager 1's camera was deliberately shut off in 1990 after taking the 'Pale Blue Dot' photo, then never restarted—a conscious goodbye to Earth.

Science & Nature

What iconic photograph was the last image Voyager 1's camera captured before it was deliberately shut off in 1990?

Voyager 1's camera was deliberately shut off in 1990 after taking the 'Pale Blue Dot' photo, then never restarted—a conscious goodbye to Earth.

Science & Nature

Tu Youyou won a Nobel Prize for discovering artemisinin, a treatment for which disease?

Tu Youyou discovered artemisinin for malaria by screening 380,000 plant extracts, reviving ancient Chinese herbalism through systematic scientific research.

Science & Nature

In what year was Christiaan Eijkman awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery relating to vitamins?

Christiaan Eijkman discovered vitamins by accidentally observing chickens fed polished rice developed beriberi, revealing nutritional deficiency disease.

Science & Nature

What continuously protects the stomach's lining from being broken down by its own digestive acid?

Your stomach produces a new lining every 3–5 days, meaning it digests itself continuously yet never runs out of protective mucus.