Cassini Mission finds Water on Saturn's Moon

[From Andrew Zolli, Curator of Pop!Tech]

In case you haven't already seen it in the major media, there's breathtaking news this week from PopTech 2005 speaker and our newest board member Carolyn Porco.

Carolyn and the rest of the Cassini mission team report finding signs of liquid water on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, making it one of only a small handful of places in the solar system that could plausibly support life. The team's discoveries from the tiny moon are amazing -- giant plumes of water shooting into space, more heat emerging from the south polar regions than here on Earth, and signs that complex organic molecules may lie on the surface. "If we did nothing else, these findings alone would have made the Cassini mission worthwhile," says Carolyn. We couldn't agree more!

For more information and stay on top of this breaking news, check out Carolyn's web site, ciclops.org or visit nytimes.com today for the full story. And keep an eye out for Alive From PopTech appearing on public television stations nationwide starting in May and June -- it features fantastic footage from Cassini and Carolyn's own eloquent thoughts on the nature of exploration and discovery. And be sure to stop by poptech.org for your ticket to PopTech 2006 and 2007 -- tickets are disappearing fast, and we'd love to see you there.