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