Saturn's moon Enceladus

This artist's impression shows Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. With a frozen surface covering a deep ocean, Enceladus is a fascinating target to search for signs of habitability elsewhere in our Solar System.

Jets of water burst from cracks close to the moon's south pole, shooting ice grains into space. These ice grains carry organic molecules from Enceladus's underground ocean, some of which are complex enough to reveal that advanced chemistry is taking place inside this ice world.

Some of Enceladus's secrets were already revealed by the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens mission. ESA is now studying a dedicated mission to Enceladus. Planned for launch in the 2040s, the mission would fly through the jets and even land on the moon's south polar terrain to collect samples.

Enceladus ticks all the boxes to be a habitable environment that could support life: the presence of liquid water, a source of energy, a specific set of chemical elements and complex organic molecules. A mission that takes measurements directly from the moon’s surface, seeking out signs of life, would offer Europe a front seat in Solar System science.

[Image description: Global view of a moon in space, with a very white surface covered in what looks like scars or cracks. Emanating from cracks at the bottom of the moon are white jets, with a fuzzy blue glow around them.]