Enceladus Icy Jet Analyzer

The Enceladus Icy Jet Analyzer (ENIJA) is a time-of-flight mass spectrometer developed to search for prebiotic molecules like amino acids and biosignatures in the plumes of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

Most of the ice particles in Enceladus' plume have been shown to be direct samples of subsurface waters, offering an opportunity to assess its internal ocean's geochemical and habitability potential without having to land and drill through the ice. [1]

The ENIJA instrument has been formally proposed to fly on two missions: the Enceladus Life Finder (ELF),[2][3] and on the Explorer of Enceladus and Titan (E2T).[4]

  1. ^ Enceladus Icy Jet Analyzer (ENIJA) : Search for life with a high resolution TOF-MS for in situ characterization of high dust density regions. (PDF) R. Srama, F. Postberg, H. Henke), T. Klopfer, Y. Li, J. Simolka, S. Bugiel, S. Kempf, J. Hillier, N. Khawaja, M. Trieloff, B. Abel, G. Moragas-Klostermeyer, H. Strack, J. Schmidt, R. Soja, Z. Sternovsky, T. Spohn. EPSC Abstracts, Vol. 10, EPSC2015-769, European Planetary Science Congress 2015.
  2. ^ Lunine, Jonathan I.; Waite, Jr., Jack Hunter; Postberg, Frank; Spilker, Linda J. (2015). Enceladus Life Finder: The search for life in a habitable moon (PDF). 46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2015). Houston (TX): Lunar and Planetary Institute.
  3. ^ Lunine, Jonathan I. "Searching for Life in the Saturn System: Enceladus Life Finder" (PDF). ELF Team. Lunar And Planetary Institute. Retrieved 2015-04-07.
  4. ^ Explorer of Enceladus and Titan - Home page.