User:FossilDS/sandbox

The Enceladus Orbilander is a proposed NASA Flagship mission to Saturn's moon Enceladus. The Enceladus Orbilander would spend a year and a half orbiting Enceladus and sampling its water plumes, which stretch into space, before landing on the surface for a two-year mission to study materials for evidence of life. The mission, with an estimated cost of $4.9 billion, could launch in the late 2030s on a Space Launch System or Falcon Heavy with a landing in the early 2050s. It was proposed in the 2023–2032 Planetary Science Decadal Survey as the third highest priority Flagship mission, after the Uranus Orbiter and Probe and the Mars Sample Return program.

Background
At 500 km in diameter, Enceladus is the sixth largest moon of Saturn and the 19th largest in the solar system. Enceladus has been visited and imaged in detail by three other probes: the twin Voyager spacecraft, and the Saturn orbiting Cassini spacecraft. Out of these, Cassini investigated Enceladus in the most detail and contributed the most to the current scientific understanding of Enceladus. Cassini's 23 targeted closed flybys, helped discover that not only was Enceladus' terrain was youthful and geologically active world, but that the moon possessed a subsurface ocean and active water plumes. . Cassini also provided evidence of hydrothermal processes driving both the geysers and Enceladus' active geology, making the moon one of the most attractive places to find life within the solar system.

After Cassini's mission, a variety of proposals to follow-up on Cassini's findings at Enceladus.

In the 2022-2032 Planetary Decadal Survey, the Enceladus Orbilander was recommended as the third highest priority flagship mission.

Spacecraft Design
Due to Enceladus's small size, the amount of energy required to land compared to capturing into orbit is negligible. Therefore, the Enceladus Orbilander is envisioned uniquely combine both the functions of an orbiter and a lander into a single spacecraft.

Scientific instruments
The proposed spacecraft will carry three separate instrument suites and a sampling system. Each instrument suite is tailored towards a different regime of science operations.

The proposed instruments are: Additionally, three separate sampling systems are proposed for each stage of flight: The Enceladus Orbilander

Mission Profile
The Enceladus Orbilander's concept study calls for a