First Announcement for the Enceladus Focus Group Meeting

This meeting will be held at SETI Institute in Mountain View, California on May 23/24, 2011. The meeting’s focus is on the current activity discovered at the south pole of Enceladus, and on the significance and implications of this discovery for the presence of liquid water and a habitable zone beneath the south polar terrain and for astrobiology.

We request presentations falling within four broad areas: 1. Energy/Mechanisms: The jetting activity at Enceladus’ south pole, and related geological and geophysical investigations; the moon’s energy budget and thermal/geological history.

2. Habitability: Is there a liquid water reservoir beneath the surface of Enceladus?

3. Biomarkers/Astrobiology: Biomarkers in the plume: What has been, or can be, observed from Cassini; What should be sought in the future; Relevant astrobiological considerations.

4. Future Missions: Mission requirements and concepts for future exploration of Enceladus

The meeting is sponsored by:

The Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPS) at the
Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado
SETI Institute in Mountain View, California
The Center for Integrative Planetary Science (CIPS) at UC Berkeley

Organizers: Carolyn Porco and Chris McKay
Local organization contact: Franck Marchis (fmarchis@berkeley.edu)

Meeting registration: http://encfg.ciclops.org/meeting_registration.php

[Edited for length.]