The first private mission to deep space is gathering momentum. Russian-Israeli billionaire Yuri Milner wants to hunt for life on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, and planning with NASA is already underway, according to documents obtained by 51¶ŻÂţ.
Agreements signed by NASA and Milner’s non-profit Breakthrough Starshot Foundation in September show that the organisations are working on scientific, technical and financial plans for the ambitious mission. NASA has committed over $70,000 to help produce a concept study for a flyby mission. The funds won’t be paid to Breakthrough but represent the agency’s own staffing costs on the project.
Ever since NASA’s Cassini probe first detected hydrogen and organic materials in plumes of water vapour streaming from Enceladus’s south pole in 2008, scientists have speculated that liquid oceans hiding beneath the moon’s icy crust might be home to alien microbes. The hydrogen may come from underwater hydrothermal reactions, in conditions similar to deep sea vents on Earth where microorganisms thrive without oxygen.
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Breakthrough is proposing another fly-by mission to sample the moon’s plumes, but this time with equipment to detect extra-terrestrial life. The agreements make it clear that Breakthrough would be leading and paying for the mission, and have sole authority to determine whether it goes ahead.
NASA’s role in the Breakthrough mission will be to provide scientific and technical consulting, including “expertise in the fields of astrobiology, planetary, biological, and Earth sciences, as well as planetary protection.” The agency will also ensure that Breakthrough’s mission complies with legal requirements to protect other planets and moons from damage by spacecraft or contamination by terrestrial organisms.
“It makes sense for Breakthrough to do this [mission] with the support of NASA,” says at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle. “It’s not only good PR but some of the best scientists in the world studying Enceladus are working at NASA.”
Mission timeline
The Agreement does not specify costs or timelines for a launch, saying simply that it is a near-term and low cost mission. However, one document lays out milestones for the initial concept study. NASA and Breakthrough are expected to come up with preliminary project requirements by June 2019, provide a mission concept review in September that year, and arrive at a key decision point by next December.
Breakthrough is planning to one day use solar sails, where sunlight exerts pressure on a large, ultra-thin sail to propel a spacecraft, to launch an armada of , our closest star. A solar sail mission to Enceladus could be a useful stepping stone to that goal, although the technology has yet to be proven.
Lau hopes that Breakthrough will consider something more ambitious than another flyby. “If they can generate enough money, it would be wonderful to see an orbiter or a lander,” he says.
NASA and the European Space Agency are currently considering whether to fund their own missions to Enceladus. None have progressed as far as Breakthrough’s, although NASA did recently award $7 million to a new ocean-world astrobiology project called .
NASA and Breakthrough declined 51¶ŻÂţ’s request for comment.
Article amended on 9 November 2018
We have clarified who NASA is advising and Yuri Milner’s nationality.
