<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbbaa3b21e9cb0ebe4a0e71-2400/hubble-space-telescope-orbiting-earth-satellite-hst-nasa-heic0908c.jpg" border="0" alt="hubble space telescope orbiting earth satellite hst nasa heic0908c" data-mce-source="NASA/ESA" data-mce-caption="The Hubble Space Telescope orbiting Earth shortly after NASA astronauts serviced the observatory in May 2009." data-link="https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0908c/" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0908c/">NASA/ESA</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Hubble Space Telescope orbiting Earth in 2009.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>A vital part inside the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/hubble-telescope" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hubble Space Telescope</a>, which records stunning images of the universe, failed on Friday.</strong></li><li><strong>The part is called a gyroscope and helps Hubble point at celestial objects.</strong></li><li><strong>It's the third of six total gyros to fail since 2009, when astronauts last serviced Hubble. Another gyro is acting "drunk," one official said.</strong></li><li><strong>NASA may start using a single gyro to extend the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/telescopes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">telescope</a>'s lifespan, but this would limit the observations Hubble can make.</strong></li><li><strong>When Hubble dies, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA</a> will have a few ways to get rid of - or rescue - the bus-sized cylinder.</strong></li></ul><p>The Hubble Space Telescope is famous for the stunning images it records of the universe, from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-galaxy-count-2017-11">distant</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-galaxy-count-2017-11">galaxies</a> to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neptunes-big-storm-is-disappearing-hubble-telescope-images-show-2018-2">dark storms</a> on Neptune and even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/europa-water-jet-hubble-telescope-photos-2016-9">plumes of water</a> shooting from alien moons.</p><p>But the Earth-orbiting spacecraft won't last forever. NASA, the European Space Agency, and other Hubble partners got a sobering reminder of this fact last week, when a vital part called a gyroscope failed.</p><p>Hubble's gyros help tell the telescope that it's aimed at the right spot in space. Friday's failure marked the third failure of six total gyros that astronauts installed in 2009. So Hubble is left with three such devices - the exact number NASA needs to keep it operating in standard fashion.</p><p>Following the failure, the 12-ton, school-bus-size observatory went into safe mode, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/hubble-in-safe-mode-as-gyro-issues-are-diagnosed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA said</a> on Monday. But it's not the end.</p><p>"Hubble's instruments still are fully operational and are expected to produce excellent <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> for years to come," NASA said.</p><p>However, the space agency is not yet out of the woods: One of Hubble's three remaining gyros is on the fritz and not functioning reliably.</p><p>"We've had some issues with this gyro in the past, and we've got some possible leads on the current problem," <a href="https://www.stsci.edu/who-we-are/leadership/kenneth-sembach" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ken Sembach</a>, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates Hubble, told Business Insider. "But the thing that's been clear on Hubble is that these gyros all have a mind of their own. I don't think anybody really knows what's going on with it right now."</p><p>NASA plans to continue investigating the issue while the telescope is in safe mode, ideally until a fix is found.</p><h2>How Hubble's gyroscopes work and why they're so important</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbbbad066fb3f10535e16b3-2400/hubble-space-telescope-hst-cutaway-diagram-pointing-gyros-gyroscopes-reactions-wheels-guidance-sensors-nasa.png" border="0" alt="hubble space telescope hst cutaway diagram pointing gyros gyroscopes reactions wheels guidance sensors nasa" data-mce-source="NASA" data-mce-caption="Elements of Hubble's Pointing Control System are labeled in this image. These components work together to determine Hubble's attitude or to rotate the telescope toward a target and remain pointed at that target during observations." data-link="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-space-telescope-pointing-control-system" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-space-telescope-pointing-control-system">NASA</a></span></p><p class="caption">A diagram that shows instruments Hubble uses to orient itself in space.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Hubble orbits Earth at 17,000 mph and rotates constantly to fixate on a particular object or new region of space. </p><p>The spacecraft has no rocket thrusters to orient itself. Instead, internal motors called reaction wheels spin up to provide momentum. The rest of Hubble responds by "pushing" in the opposite direction, causing it to rotate.</p><p>If Hubble doesn't know exactly where it's pointing, it'd miss targets and send back blurry pictures.</p><p>That's where the gyros come in. Hubble's gyros - ideally, three working at a time - act as an ultra-accurate balancing system that helps the telescope move in the most precise way possible.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbbc49eae84ee12721f3955-1439/hubble-space-telescope-gyroscope-gyro-part-nasa.jpg" border="0" alt="hubble space telescope gyroscope gyro part nasa" data-mce-source="NASA" data-mce-caption="A Hubble Space Telescope gyroscope." data-link="https://www.nasa.gov/offices/nesc/home/Feature_NESC_Hubble_Space_Telescope_Attitude_Observer_Anomaly_Feb_2014.html" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/offices/nesc/home/Feature_NESC_Hubble_Space_Telescope_Attitude_Observer_Anomaly_Feb_2014.html">NASA</a></span></p><p class="caption">A Hubble Space Telescope gyroscope.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Each Hubble gyro is a small cylinder with an internal "float" that spins thousands of times per minute. A special fluid helps the float spin effortlessly for more than five years without fail. Two small wires - each finer than a human hair - measure any change in the spin and turn that into an electrical signal.</p><p>The signal feeds into computers, which tell the telescope's reaction wheels how and when to move.</p><p>"You need the gyros to know where you are in space. Once you know where you are, you can tell the spacecraft to turn this way or that way," a Hubble telescope team member told Business Insider. (He asked to remain anonymous because he is not permitted to speak to press about the program.)</p><p>Instruments called fine guidance sensors, which look for fixed patterns of stars in the sky, also help keep Hubble aware of its position. And the telescope has magnetic sensors that provide some orientation data as well. But none of these devices are as great as the gyros, which are among the most accurate and stable ever made, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-space-telescope-pointing-control-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to NASA</a>.</p><p>Hubble's first set of six gyros failed somewhat rapidly - bromine in the liquid ate away at the sensing wires - so NASA astronauts installed six new-and-improved gyros in 2009, dramatically extending Hubble's life.</p><p>Still, Sembach said even these newer devices are finicky, fragile, and will eventually fail.</p><p>"Everything inside has to be working just right in order for these things to work," he said.</p><h2>How a 'drunk' gyro might cut into Hubble's future observations</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a1f1a2c3dbef482008b8ec4-2000/hubble-extreme-ultra-deep-field-infrared-uv-deepest-patch-night-sky-nasa-stsci.jpg" border="0" alt="hubble extreme ultra deep field infrared uv deepest patch night sky nasa stsci" data-mce-source="NASA/ESA/IPAC/Caltech/STScI/Arizona State University" data-mce-caption="Nine years' worth of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed about 10,000 galaxies in one of the deepest, darkest patches of night sky in the universe." data-link="https://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2014-27" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2014-27">NASA/ESA/IPAC/Caltech/STScI/Arizona State University</a></span></p><p class="caption">Nine years' worth of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed about 10,000 galaxies in one of the deepest, darkest patches of night sky in the universe.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Since NASA retired its space shuttles in 2011, it has not had a spacecraft able to service Hubble and replace the gyros.</p><p>So Hubble's three gyros are what's left to work with for the foreseeable future.</p><p>"So far, they seem to be doing well, minus this one that's acting drunk," Sembach said, referring to the third and oddly behaving gyro.</p><p>If Hubble's engineers can't figure out what's wrong with the "drunk" gyro and fix it with new software, they'll shut it down. </p><p>"If the outcome indicates that the gyro is not usable, Hubble will resume science operations in an already defined 'reduced-gyro' mode that uses only one gyro," NASA said. In that case, the agency would also turn off one of the remaining two "good" gyros to prevent wear-and-tear and extend the telescope's lifespan.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/586ff99bf10a9a51098b7129-1651/undefined" border="0" alt="V838 Monocerotis red nova candidate supergiant star nasa hubble esa" data-mce-source="NASA/ESA/The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)" data-mce-caption="The V838 Monocerotis red supergiant, which may have been two stars that collided as a red nova." data-link="https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_784.html" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_784.html">NASA/ESA/The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)</a></span></p><p class="caption">The V838 Monocerotis red supergiant star, as seen by the Hubble telescope.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>That change would amount to a roughly 50% cut in the area of sky Hubble could observe at a given moment. So the telescope would have to wait longer to study certain objects. It'd also be unable to move quickly enough to target surprise objects, such as exploding stars.</p><p>"Another potential downside is that observations that require tracking of moving targets (think objects closer than Jupiter) may be difficult to observe since these are normally done under gyro-only control," Sembach said in an email to Business Insider. (A newly discovered comet or a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oumuamua-comet-asteroid-object-origin-dwarf-stars-2018-9">rogue interstellar asteroid</a> might be two examples.)</p><p>Running on one gyro instead of three could add up to a 10% hit to the observatory's efficiency, Sembach said, but he added: "overall the science will be very similar (i.e., great!)."</p><p>"While reduced-gyro mode offers less sky coverage at any particular time, there is relatively limited impact on the overall scientific capabilities," NASA said.</p><p>On the plus side, saving one gyro for later might help Hubble operate well into the era of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/proxima-b-habitable-atmosphere-jwst-2016-9">James Webb Space Telescope</a>, or JWST, which is NASA's next-generation, infrared-light-sensing observatory. It's scheduled for launch in 2021.</p><p>"Hubble is the world's premier astronomical facility, and it will be until JWST is launched," Sembach said. "Even then, it will have capabilities that'd complement JWST."</p><h2>What will happen to Hubble after it stops working?</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e8fa28909924d2008b58af-800/point-nemo-oceanic-pole-of-inaccessibility-google-maps-usgs-nasa-noaa-labeled-thumb.png" border="0" alt="point nemo oceanic pole of inaccessibility google maps usgs nasa noaa labeled thumb" data-mce-source="Google Earth; Business Insider" /><p class="source"><span>Google Earth; Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Point Nemo, also known as the "spacecraft cemetery" or "spacecraft graveyard."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Eventually, the telescope may stop working altogether.</p><p>"This weekend's events remind us the spacecraft is aging, and that it will eventually have an end-state," Sembach said. "NASA and the scientific community will have to address this at some point."</p><p>Without some kind of intervention, Hubble is expected to crash to Earth in the mid-2030s. Although it's unlikely Hubble would hit anything after falling from space, NASA and its partners have committed to make sure Hubble doesn't pose any threat.</p><p>To that end, astronauts who serviced the telescope in 2009 screwed on a grappling fixture. This allows for a spacecraft to dock with Hubble, giving NASA a variety of options to deal with its observatory.</p><p>"You could grab it and de-orbit in the Pacific Ocean, because you don't want it hitting an inhabited area," Sembach said.</p><p>If that's the case, NASA would likely target the most remote region of the Pacific, a zone sometimes called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacecraft-cemetery-point-nemo-google-maps-2017-10">"Point Nemo" or the "spacecraft cemetery."</a></p><p>Another option is for an uncrewed spacecraft to boost Hubble to a very high and stable orbit above Earth, where it would likely remain for thousands of years.</p><p>"Or you could potentially go back and service the thing," Sembach said. "Right now that's not possible, but maybe in 10 years. Who knows?"</p><p>There is a fourth (more radical) option: A large, next-generation commercial vehicle, such as a modified <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-mars-spaceship-big-falcon-rocket-diagram-2018-9">spaceship</a> of SpaceX's upcoming <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-big-falcon-spaceship-construction-musk-mars-missions-2018-9">Big Falcon Rocket system</a>, could capture Hubble and bring it back to Earth for display in a museum.</p><p>"I would not be opposed to that," Sembach said.</p>      <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-completes-james-webb-space-telescope-2016-11">NASA just completed its $8.7 billion space telescope that will replace the Hubble</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/4nhtk4Oz-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

NASA's Hubble space telescope just lost a vital part, and one of its backups is 'acting drunk.' Here's why astronomers haven't lost hope.

<p><div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:618px"><div class="image"><a title_source="CartoDB" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/51251501ecad04d872000006-960/screen%20shot%202013-02-20%20at%201.20.36%20pm.png"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/51251501ecad04d872000006-933-435/screen%20shot%202013-02-20%20at%201.20.36%20pm.png?maxX=618" border="0" alt="Meteor Map" width="618" /></a></div><p class="source"><a href="http://blog.cartodb.com/post/43491512651/every-recorded-meteorite-strike-on-earth-mapped">CartoDB</a></p></div></p>
<p><keyword id="1565035" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="meteor">Meteor</keyword> mania has taken over all corners of the Internet, following a string of close encounters and sightings of flying <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> rocks. </p>
<p>Fragments from a bus-sized meteor that exploded in Earth's atmosphere <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-meteor-aftermath-photos-2013-2">rained down over an industrial Russian city last Friday</a>.</p>
<p>Less than 24 hours later, an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/live-building-sized-asteroid-nears-earth-2013-2">asteroid came within 17,200 miles of Earth</a>, the closest approach for an an object of this size.</p>
<p>A day later, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/another-fireball-spotted-this-time-over-califonia-2013-2">Bay Area residents reported seeing a fireball streaking through the sky</a>.   </p>
<p>A map showing every meteor strike since 2,300 B.C. is now making the rounds. The map was created by <a href="https://twitter.com/jatorre" target="_hplink">Javier de la Torre</a><span>, co-founder of data visualization company CartoDB.</span></p>
<p><span><span><span>De la Torre used </span>data uploaded to the Guardian's website that originally came from the Meteorological Society. The data shows where actual meteorites, or impact craters from meteorites, have been found. The size of the circle corresponds to the size of the object and the color corresponds to the number of meteorites or craters in a given location. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>There are probably tons more out there that have fallen from the sky, but just haven't been found yet. </span></span></p>
<p>You can <a href="http://blog.cartodb.com/post/43491512651/every-recorded-meteorite-strike-on-earth-mapped">view the interactive version here</a>. It's cool because you can actually click on the circles to get more detail about the meteorite's composition, location, weight and the year it was discovered.   </p>
<p>The map includes more than 34,000 locations where there's evidence of a meteorite strike, <a href="http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-pick/interactive-map-shows-every-recorded-meteorite-strike-on-earth-20130220/">according to Geek.com</a>. </p>
<p>It looks like the United States is a popular place!</p>

Every Meteorite That's Slammed Into Earth Since 2300 BC [MAP]

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59babe3a38d20d3c098b6076-1686/cassini-Saturn-grand-finale-illustration-artwork-nasa-jpl-caltech-14.jpg" alt="cassini Saturn grand finale illustration artwork nasa jpl caltech 14" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech" data-mce-caption="An illustration of NASA's Cassini probe as it plunges into the clouds of Saturn." data-link="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/7634/"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/7634/">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of NASA's Cassini probe as it plunges into the clouds of Saturn.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>The Cassini spacecraft was destroyed at Saturn on Friday around 6:32 a.m. EDT.</strong></li><li><strong>It took more than an hour for the probe's last signal to reach antennas on Earth.</strong></li><li><strong>NASA's $3.26-billion mission was ended to prevent contaminating salty oceans of Saturn's moons - water that may harbor alien life.</strong></li><li><strong>The space agency is now reviewing a handful of proposals to return to Saturn and its moons.</strong></li></ul><p>With the crackle and fade of a signal beamed from 932 million miles away, NASA's 20-year Cassini mission at Saturn came to an end on Friday morning.</p><p>The bus-size Cassini probe began its descent into Saturn around 6:31 a.m. EDT, local time, while streaming unprecedented real-time measurements of the planet's atmosphere. The probe ramped up its thrusters to keep its antenna dish pointed toward Earth to send the data.</p><p>However, its connection with Earth didn't last much longer: The thrusters weren't designed to keep a spacecraft righted while plunging into Saturn at 78,000 mph.</p><p>Cassini began to tumble, breaking its last bond with Earth around 7:55 a.m. The signal was lost. And then the probe died.</p><p>It's unlikely that anyone saw it happen - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-death-will-it-be-visible-nasa-hubble-telescopes-2017-9">not even powerful telescopes</a> - but NASA surmises that its "faithful traveler from Earth" heated up to hundreds and then thousands of degrees, broke apart, disintegrated, and vaporized into a small, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-saturn-mission-death-plutonium-238-burn-up-2017-8">plutonium-laced meteor</a> that streaked above Saturn's clouds.</p><p><br>Before dying, Cassini's final communication traveled at light-speed from Saturn, taking just <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/time-cassini-will-be-destroyed-timeline-2017-9">over 1 hour 23 minutes</a> to pass through the void of space and reach Earth. Giant radio dishes in Australia picked up the signal&#xa0;and forwarded the data to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (the heart of the Cassini mission).</br></p><p>Silence fell over the control<span>&#xa0;room, which was full of Cassini's scientific stewards and their family members. Everyone stared at their screens.&#xa0;</span>When the feed of data stopped,&#xa0;people&#xa0;clapped, then hugged, and many could be heard crying.</p><p>"The signal from the spacecraft is gone, and so will be the spacecraft in the next 45 seconds," said Earl Maize, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who manages the Cassini mission, during a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cassini-grand-finale-video-nasa-youtube-ustream-2017-9">live broadcast by NASA TV</a>. "This has been an incredible spacecraft, an incredible mission, and you're all an incredible team."</p><p>NASA could not&#xa0;confirm exactly what time Cassini met its doom, though the agency estimated it happened seconds to minutes after they lost touch with the probe.</p><p>One thing is clear, though: The space agency's $3.26-billion mission to explore Saturn is over.</p><p>"Thank you, Cassini, and farewell," Maize said during a press conference on Wednesday.</p><h2>Why NASA killed the Cassini probe</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59b94d9d38d20d3c098b5581-1238/cassini-spacecraft-titan-illustration-nasa-jpl-caltech.jpg" alt="cassini spacecraft titan illustration nasa jpl caltech" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech" data-mce-caption="An artist rendering of NASA's Cassini spacecraft observing a sunset through the hazy atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon." data-link="https://images.nasa.gov/#/details-PIA18410.html"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://images.nasa.gov/#/details-PIA18410.html">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">An artist rendering of NASA's Cassini spacecraft observing a sunset through the hazy atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Cassini left Earth with 6,900 lbs of propellant in its tanks. This allowed it to adjust its orbit around Saturn and visit one moon after the next, leading to astonishing discoveries.<p>The probe discovered six new moons, mysterious "propeller objects" in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-saturn-rings-image-cassini-2017-4">Saturn's rings</a>, documented a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturn-hexagon-storm-images-2017-5">giant hexagon</a> swirling atop the planet's north pole, photographed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/incredible-pictures-of-lakes-on-saturns-moon-titan-2013-12">hydrocarbon lakes</a> on Titan (Saturn's largest moon), and found a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-water-ice-volume-versus-planets-moons-2016-11">vast ocean</a> of salty water - which may harbor alien life - below the icy crust of the moon <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-moon-enceladus-cassini-ocean-life-global-salty-nasa-2015-9">Enceladus</a>.</p><p>In 2010, Cassini had enough propellant left to either fly by Uranus or Neptune, or continue to explore Saturn and its moons.</p><p>If it had flown past one of those planets and shot out into space, Cassini would have had enough <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">plutonium-238 fuel</a> to keep its electricity running for decades - just like the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/voyager-probes-mission-history-farthest-movie-2018-08">Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes</a>, which launched 40 years ago and have left the solar system.</p><p>But with so many questions about Saturn still unanswered, NASA decided to keep Cassini in orbit there - and doom it to its fiery "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/cassini-grand-finale">Grand Finale</a>" death in September 2017. With less than 90 lbs of propellant left on Friday, the spacecraft plunged &#xa0;to its demise. The scientists chose to kill the probe this way to avoid the&#xa0;risk that it could run out of fuel and crash into one of Saturn's&#xa0;potentially life-fostering moons.&#xa0;</p><p>"Because of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-planetary-protection-officer-job-opening-2017-7">planetary protection</a>, and our desire to go back to Enceladus, and go back to Titan," Jim Green, the leader of NASA's planetary <keyword id="41551" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> program, said during a Wednesday press briefing, "we must protect those bodies for future exploration."</p><p><br>Extending the mission at Saturn helped Cassini's controllers to pile on discovery after discovery.</br></p><p>The probe had discovered jets of water shooting out of Enceladus in 2005. This was astonishing enough, but the extension allowed Cassini to "taste" the spray, confirming the moon hides a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-moon-enceladus-cassini-ocean-life-global-salty-nasa-2015-9">salty ocean</a> below its ice-encrusted surface. Cassini also learned that Titan, too, may harbor its own <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/water-space-volume-planets-moons-2016-10">habitable, subsurface seas</a>.</p><p>"To find that there's an ocean world so tiny with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturn-encealdus-hydrothermal-vent-aliens-2017-4">a possibility of life</a>, so far from the sun - 10 times farther from the sun than the Earth - has opened up our paradigm of where you might look for life," <a href="https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Spilker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Linda Spilker</a>, a Cassini project scientist and planetary scientist at NASA's JPL, said of Enceladus on Wednesday, "both within our own solar system and in the exoplanet systems beyond."</p><h2>Will there be a Cassini 2.0?</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59b739269803c523008b488e-2400/saturn-rings0backlit-glow-mars-venus-earth-nasa-jpl-caltech-pia17172fig1.jpg" alt="saturn rings0backlit glow mars venus earth nasa jpl caltech ssi PIA17172_fig1" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI" data-mce-caption="A backlit photo of Saturn and its moons taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on July 19, 2013." data-link="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17172"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17172">NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI</a></span></p><p class="caption">A backlit photo of Saturn and its moons taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on July 19, 2013.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>Cassini is now dust falling through Saturn's clouds, and NASA has no other spacecraft there to study the planet, its rings, and fleet of moons.</p><p>But NASA is itching to fuel up more nuclear batteries, build a new spacecraft, and return to the planetary system.</p><p>"The observations by Cassini have been so remarkable for Enceladus and Titan, that ... we announced the inclusion of those two objects in our focused science program called <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2017/05/05/nasa-receives-proposals-for-future-solar-system-mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New Frontiers</a>," Green said on Wednesday. "Those proposals are in and currently under evaluation, and they do indeed include proposals to go back to Titan and Enceladus. We'll look through this competition and see what happens."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59babd469803c523008b5e4a-1824/enceladus-ice-crust-subsurface-global-ocean-hydrothermal-vents-illustration-nasa-jpl.png" alt="enceladus ice crust subsurface global ocean hydrothermal vents illustration nasa jpl" data-mce-source="NASA/JPL-Caltech" data-mce-caption="Enceladus hides a warm, salty ocean that may be habitable to alien life." data-link="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA20013"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA20013">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">Enceladus hides a warm, salty ocean that may be habitable to alien life.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>New Frontiers has produced missions like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pluto-tail-new-horizons-comet-planet-hybrid-2016-5">New Horizons</a>, which flew by Pluto (and is on its way into the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/number-dwarf-planets-solar-system-2017-3">Kuiper Belt</a>); <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/latest-jupiter-pictures-nasa-juno-2017-7">Juno</a>, which is currently orbiting Jupiter; and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-osiris-rex-asteroid-sampling-mission-2016-9">OSIRIS-REx</a>, a probe designed to suck up bits of Asteroid Bennu in 2018 and return that sample to Earth in 2023.<p>Spilker wrote and submitted one of the latest New Frontiers proposals with <a href="https://scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov/people/m_cable" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Morgan Cable</a>, a fellow Cassini scientist. If approved, they'll get about $800 million, nuclear power supplies, and a rocket to make their mission happen.</p><p>"We've put together a proposal ... to go back to Enceladus with the kinds of instruments that you would need to address the questions about the habitability and 'is there life in the ocean of Enceladus?' The mission's called Enceladus Life Finder," Spilker told Business Insider.</p><p>She'll find out in December whether or not the proposal made the first cut, and gets a year to more deeply study and flesh out a mission plan. There are 11 competing proposals, about half of which also propose a return to Saturn.</p><p>"Certainly if my mission doesn't get selected, then I will be rooting for a mission to go back to the Saturn system," Spilker said. 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