Cassini Finds Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide Atmosphere on Saturn's Moon Rhea

Thought this was pretty interesting, it was published yesterday in the journal Science.

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a flyby past Rhea, Saturn's second-largest moon, NASA's spacecraft Cassini has revealed the presence of a thin atmosphere of 70 percent oxygen and 30 percent carbon dioxide, which is apparently sustained by chemical decomposition of the moon’s ice-covered surface.

Scientists from the US, UK and Germany analyzing the data from Cassini say the presence of an oxidizing atmosphere is consistent with remote observations by the Hubble telescope and the Galileo probe of Jupiter’s icy moons Europa and Ganymede, but this is the first time the presence of oxygen has been detected directly on any moon or planet.

The oxygen is believed to be formed when water molecules are split by energetic particles in a process called radiolysis. The oxygen is then ejected into the atmosphere and is captured by Rhea’s gravity. The data suggests about 130 grams of oxygen per second is produced on Rhea. The carbon dioxide may originate in dry ice trapped inside the moon, or it could be from carbon-rich meteorites hitting the surface and split apart by charged particles in a similar way to the water ice. Another possibility is it could be escaping from the planet’s interior

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PhysOrg Article
ScienceMag

hell yeah take that new science fiction movies with your helmets and pressurized suits and your there is no plant life so no oxygen HA we can travel there and do it captain james t kurk style barely wearing a shirt and sleeping with the green women inhabitants all while breathing air on a distant planet.

reply to post by SpaceJ


That is great!
Thank for share this news. S&F.

After Titan www.abovetopsecret.com... now Rhea!

Step by step NASA.... Step by step....

This thread is already on here...

Great news though..

reply to post by Misterlondon


Oops. Sorry I searched but didn't see that one. Here's the first thread.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It's cool to know stuff like this,
but were not gonna be going there anytime soon.

Originally posted by pcrobotwolf
captain james t kirk style barely wearing a shirt and sleeping with the green women inhabitants all while breathing air on a distant planet.

I wanna sleep with green women too, are we sure there are green women there?

If so, please sign the good doctor up!

Dorian Soran
The Good Doctor!

reply to post by Dorian Soran


LOL seriously how many of us guys would be lining up to nail a hot alien chick if they had the right equipment. the earth women would be all mad and give you a guilt trip because the only other aliens are the grays which dont have any junk. LOL no 7 foot tall blue alien with cat eyes for them just a small gray junkless alien.

Okay, I don't really follow the train of thought here, probably since I'm not male. But it was funny nonetheless. You guys are so obsessed with laying the green aliens, you'd probably be eaten afterwards.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e6ae29c4782f.jpg[/atsimg]

Hi space fans.

Here is the REAL description of what it is:

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected a very tenuous atmosphere known as an exosphere, infused with oxygen and carbon dioxide around Saturn's icy moon Rhea.

saturn.jpl.nasa.gov...
saturn.jpl.nasa.gov...

Blue skies.

Originally posted by SpaceJ
You guys are so obsessed with laying the green aliens, you'd probably be eaten afterwards.

But, if she were a REALLY SMOKING HOT GREEN LADY from Saturn or K7-OrPhadie wouldn't it be worth it?

Not so much "obsessed" more like "intrigued"

You know what they way "Once you've had green, there's no in-between!" - well at least I say that

Dorian Soran