COLONIZATION OF ENCELADUS
Should we establish a colony on Enceladus?
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Researchers from the Southwest Research Institute provided promising reports that Enceladus could support human habitation. Enceladus is one of the moons of planet Saturn (Deamer & Damer, 2017). While analyzing data obtained by NASA’S Cassini spacecraft, the researchers found traces of hydrogen that is explained by chemical reactions between Enceladus rocky core and warm water from its subsurface ocean. Further, the researchers suggested that the Enceladus’ ocean floor have features that are similar to hydrothermal vents of the earth that are known to support life. With this information, the dilemma is, should humans colonize Enceladus? This essay argues for reasons that humans should colonize Enceladus.
Enceladus has an abundant water supply that humans could use to support life. The availability of water indicates that humans could have access to meat protein in fish once they colonize Enceladus (Hamp et al., 2018). This is unlike in other terrestrial planetary bodies that cannot provide such making Enceladus one of the best opportunities for humans looking to colonize terrestrial bodies. The availability of water in plenty also makes it possible for humans to generate oxygen and hydrogen. The two are very important for survival and other human activities. Humans could also use oxygen and hydrogen to generate energy to power things. This could make other human activities possible. Further, from the hydrothermal vents, humans can generate electricity and other energy like heat.
For human habitation, it is important that human beings are protected from harmful radiations. Enceladus has been shown to shield humans from these radiations (Hamp et al., 2018). The surface of the Enceladus subsurface ocean is covered by a thick layer of ice. The ice can be used to shield humans from the deadly radiations either from Saturn or space in general. The ice will absorb these radiations, and they will not reflect the habited areas. Further, there are areas on the surface of Enceladus like “tiger stripes” that generate about 15.8 gigawatts of heat-generated power. If human build their bases close to these regions, they may have sources of heat to trap.
Despite these promising signs, the frigid cold and thick layer of ice on Enceladus are major concerns to possible human habitation. As a result of the reflection of sunlight from the icy surface, the Enceladus temperatures average to -201oC (Deamer & Damer, 2017). This is not conducive for human habitation. However, hydrogen generated from water can be used to produce heat. Further, establishing human bases close to the “tiger stripes” may help overcome the frigid cold. The thick layer of ice makes it impossible to access the ocean water (Deamer & Damer, 2017). However, ammonia, which has been found in abundance on Enceladus, can be used as an antifreeze. The presence of ammonia is also an indication that there is fresh liquid water in the subsurface ocean of Enceladus.
In conclusion, there is promising evidence that Enceladus can be colonized for human habitation. The availability of water, the thick layer of ice, and the presence of ammonia are among other factors that make Enceladus a preferred destination for human colonization among terrestrial bodies. However, scientists need to overcome the frigid cold that makes habitation challenging. Further research will need to be conducted to find efficient ways of producing oxygen, hydrogen, and heat power. In addition, the ammonia in the interior of Enceladus needs to be tapped for antifreeze purposes.
References
Hamp, R., Olsson-Francis, K., Schwenzer, S., Ramkissoon, N., & Pearson, V. (2018, September). Modelling the Rock-Water Interface on Enceladus. In European Planetary Science Congress (Vol. 12).
Deamer, D., & Damer, B. (2017). Can Life Begin on Enceladus? A Perspective from Hydrothermal Chemistry. Astrobiology, 17(9), 834-839.