Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability (ELSAH) is anastrobiology concept mission proposed in 2017 to NASA'sNew Frontiers program to send a spacecraft toEnceladus to search forbiosignatures and assess itshabitability.[1][2] The Principal Investigator isChristopher P. McKay, an astrobiologist at NASAAmes Research Center,[3] and the managing NASA center isGoddard Space Flight Center. No details of the mission have been made public, but observers speculate that it would be a plume-sampling orbiter mission.[4]
The two finalists, announced on 20 December 2017, areDragonfly to Titan, andCAESAR (Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return) which is a sample-return mission from comet67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.[5]
Although ELSAH was not selected for launch in this instance, it received technology development funds to prepare it for future mission competitions.[6] The funds are meant to develop techniques that limit spacecraft contamination and thereby enable life detection measurements on cost-capped missions.[6]
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
