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And this is Hercules photographing the IMAX tower at Lost City. Credit: IFE, URI-IAO, UW, Lost City science party,
and NOAA
Ice Mole’s primary mission is to look for chemical and physical signs of present or past life. The technology is definitely very challenging but will be solved. The main problem is funding, and it is really devastating to outer planet
research when politicians responsible for funding simply don’t see how important these missions are. This work
is bursting with the best minds creating the new technology needed to explore Enceladus, Europa, and other
outer-planet moons, but it is really driven by the heart. This kind of research is so profoundly human. With solid
scientific data showing that Enceladus could very well be habitable for microbes, and especially with the discovery of what is almost certainly a liquid, salty sea, astrobiologists are rallying around this moon, pushing for a
ICY SCIENCE | QTR 2 SPRING 2014