Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: It's Christian Sager here before meeting its fiery demise in
Speaker 1: Saturn's atmosphere on Friday September, NASA's groundbreaking Cassini mission to
Speaker 1: Saturn had spent thirteen years redefining our view of the
Speaker 1: beautiful ringed gas giant, but its discoveries went well beyond
Speaker 1: pure science. Like the long duration space missions that came
Speaker 1: before it, the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Twin Voyager probes,
Speaker 1: and more recently, the European Rosetta mission, Cassini irrevocably changed
Speaker 1: our perspectives, becoming ingrained in the lives of the people
Speaker 1: who worked with the mission and had tangible impacts on society.
Speaker 1: Cassini's scientific accolades are nothing short of revolutionary. With the
Speaker 1: help of the European High Jen's Lander, it explored the
Speaker 1: stunning lee dynamic atmosphere of Titan, discovering vast lakes of
Speaker 1: liquid methane and uncovering a vast subsurface ocean of liquid water.
Speaker 1: Close up examinations of the planet's rings revealed stunning detail
Speaker 1: and the intricate relationship with its moons. Cassini tracked changes
Speaker 1: in Saturn's atmosphere as its seasons progressed, a feat that
Speaker 1: could only be achieved by putting a long duration probe
Speaker 1: in orbit about the planet for more than a decade.
Speaker 1: And then there's end cell Aduce, a small icy moon that,
Speaker 1: until Cassini arrived in two thousand four, hit a secret
Speaker 1: and ocean with the potential for life. Thanks to end
Speaker 1: sell Aduce, it doesn't look as if you need a
Speaker 1: planet with liquid water on its surface like Earth. Unlike
Speaker 1: our world, moons like en Celaduce, Titan, possibly Dione, Jupiter's Europa,
Speaker 1: and nept Tunes Triton hide their liquid water underneath their surfaces,
Speaker 1: and these moons are abundant dynamic places in our solar system.
Speaker 1: Io has volcanic plumes and Europa has a liquid ocean
Speaker 1: with seas, rain rivers, and volcanoes. Geysers come out of
Speaker 1: Neptune's moon Titan. Though these places are extremely cold and
Speaker 1: water cannot exist as a liquid. Other chemicals with lower
Speaker 1: freezing points step in to become their lubricants, and in
Speaker 1: the case of Titan, its methane and all kinds of hydrocarbons.
Speaker 1: In the case of insuladuce it's liquid water heated by
Speaker 1: tides all the way out to Neptune, where the lubricant
Speaker 1: is nitrogen. This could mean that we might discover a
Speaker 1: similar rich diversity in other star systems. Space exploration has
Speaker 1: a knack for putting our place in the universe into perspective,
Speaker 1: but this goes beyond onto the science. It has an
Speaker 1: impact on society, like the famous pale blue dot photograph
Speaker 1: of a distant Earth captured by the Voyager one spacecraft
Speaker 1: as it was speeding into the unknown frontiers of our
Speaker 1: Solar system. Too, Cassini's own portrait of Earth during the
Speaker 1: Wave at Saturn event. Space exploration can give the world
Speaker 1: a sense of togetherness. These images from space also act
Speaker 1: as a catalyst. These images from space also act as
Speaker 1: a catalyst to give people optimism considering beauty beyond the
Speaker 1: strife here on Earth. Today's episode was written by Ian O'Neill,
Speaker 1: produced by Tristan McNeil, and for more on this and
Speaker 1: other topics, please visit us at how stuff works dot com.