Exploration of Enceladus and Titan: investigating ocean worlds’ evolution and habitability in the Saturn system

Mitri, Giuseppe; Barnes, Jason; Coustenis, Athena; Flamini, Enrico; Hayes, Alexander; Lorenz, Ralph D.; Mastrogiuseppe, Marco; Orosei, Roberto; Postberg, Frank; Reh, Kim; Soderblom, Jason M.; Sotin, Christophe; Tobie, Gabriel; Tortora, Paolo; Vuitton, Veronique; Wurz, Peter (2022). Exploration of Enceladus and Titan: investigating ocean worlds’ evolution and habitability in the Saturn system. Experimental astronomy, 54(2-3), pp. 877-910. Springer 10.1007/s10686-021-09772-2

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We present a White Paper with a science theme concept of ocean world evolution and habitability proposed in response to ESA’s Voyage 2050 Call with a focus on Titan and Enceladus in the Saturn system. Ocean worlds in the outer Solar System that possess subsurface liquid water oceans are considered to be prime targets for extra-terrestrial life and offer windows into Solar System evolution and habitability. The Cassini-Huygens mission to the Saturn system (2004–2017) revealed Titan with its organic-rich evolving world with terrestrial features and Enceladus with its active aqueous environment to be ideal candidates to investigate ocean world evolution and habitability. Additionally, this White Paper presents a baseline for a multiple flyby mission with a focused payload as an example of how ocean world evolution and habitability in the Saturn system could be investigated building on the heritage of the Cassini-Huygens mission and complementing the recently selected NASA Dragonfly mission.

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