BrainStuff Classics: What Can Space Missions Teach Us About Ourselves?

NASA's epic Cassini mission taught us a lot about Saturn and its moons -- and about ourselves, too. Learn more about it in this classic episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff.
I'm Lauren Bogelbaum, and today's episode is another classic from
our former host, Christian Sagar. In this one, we pay
tribute to NASA's Cassini mission and talk about how exploring
space can help us learn about the universe and our
own planet. Hey brain Stuff, it's Christian Sager here. Before

(00:25):
meeting its fiery demise in Saturn's atmosphere on Friday September.
NASA's groundbreaking Cassini mission to Saturn had spent thirteen years
redefining our view of the beautiful ringed gas giant, but
it's discoveries went well beyond pure science. Like the long

(00:47):
duration space missions that came before it, the Galileo mission
to Jupiter, the Twin Voyager probes, and more recently, the
European Rosetta mission, Cassini irrevocably changed our perspectives, but coming
ingrained in the lives of the people who worked with
the mission and had tangible impacts on society. Cassini's scientific

(01:09):
accolades are nothing short of revolutionary. With the help of
the European High Gen's lander, it explored the stunningly dynamic
atmosphere of Titan, discovering vast lakes of liquid methane and
uncovering a vast subsurface ocean of liquid water. Close up
examinations of the planet's rings revealed stunning detail and the

(01:32):
intricate relationship with its moons. Cassini tracked changes in Saturn's
atmosphere as its seasons progressed, a feat that could only
be achieved by putting a long duration probe in orbit
about the planet for more than a decade. And then
there's en Celaduce, a small icy moon that, until Cassini

(01:55):
arrived in two thousand four, hit a secret and ocean
with the potential for life. Thanks to end Celluduce, it
doesn't look as if you need a planet with liquid
water on its surface like Earth. Unlike our world, moons
like Enceladuce, Titan, possibly Dione, Jupiter's Europa, and Neptune's Triton

(02:17):
hide their liquid water underneath their surfaces, and these moons
are abundant dynamic places in our Solar system. Io has
volcanic plumes and Europa has a liquid ocean with seas, rain, rivers,
and volcanoes. Geysers come out of Neptune's moon Titan. Though

(02:38):
these places are extremely cold and water cannot exist as
a liquid. Other chemicals with lower freezing points step in
to become their lubricants, and in the case of Titan,
it's methane and all kinds of hydrocarbons. In the case
of Inseladuce, it's liquid water heated by tides all the

(02:58):
way out to nept Tune, where the lubricant is nitrogen.
This could mean that we might discover a similar rich
diversity in other star systems. Space exploration has a knack
for putting our place in the universe into perspective, but
this goes beyond the science. It has an impact on society.

(03:20):
Like the famous pale blue dot photograph of a distant
Earth captured by the Voyager one spacecraft as it was
speeding into the unknown frontiers of our Solar system two
Cassini's own portrait of Earth during the Wave at Saturn event.
Space exploration can give the world a sense of togetherness.

(03:43):
These images from space also act as a catalyst to
give people optimism, considering beauty beyond the strife here on Earth.
Today's episode was written by Ian O'Neill and produced by
Tristan mcne and Tyler Klang. For more in this lots
of other far out topics, visit how stuff works dot com.

(04:05):
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