Anyone who works in space exploration knows that there are way more mission ideas than could ever be completed given the limited time and budget. Everyone who works at NASA, the ESA, or other space agencies has a laundry list of projects that they would love to see funded, but few of them ever do.

One extremely ambitious plan from the European Space Agency (ESA), however, has been given the green light (at least for now), and if the mission takes place and is successful, it would be the first time that a manmade craft touches water that isn’t from Earth.

The mission would send two spacecraft on a long journey to visit Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Previous missions have shown that the icy planet has liquid water under the solid surface as well as geothermal activity, which makes this one of the most promising locations in our solar system to find life (outside of Earth, of course).

The mission was confirmed to be moving forward at the ESA’s Ministerial Council for 2025, which took place in Germany. The council is where heads of various departments within the ESA get together to make important decisions, set budgets, and identify priorities for the next three years.

Information about this particular mission shows that it would involve two launches, an orbiter and a lander. Both would be assembled in orbit around Earth and then launched separately toward Saturn. The lander will launch first and land on the ‘Tiger Stripe’ region of the moon. This is where previous orbiters have found water vapor plumes escaping from the icy surface, confirming there is water directly below.

Next, the orbiter would arrive and gather information about the moon as well as serve as a relay point for sending information from the surface back to Earth. Dr. Jorn Helbert is the head of the Solar System Section for ESA’s Science Engagement Office, and he recently said of this mission:

“Enceladus is the one place where we can actually touch the water from the ocean, and that for me is absolutely amazing.”

While this is a major step forward for the ambitious mission, a lot has to happen before it actually takes place. Fortunately, the ESA has some time to complete planning and building the spacecraft.

Saturn’s orbital alignment with Earth won’t line up to an ideal distance until 2052. At that time, the solar powered lander would touch down and operate for about a month using solar panels. This time period is also when the moon would get the maximum amount of sunshine as well as the fewest eclipses (which are very common for that moon), making it an excellent opportunity for the mission.

Astronomers and engineers can now work on the plans for the mission as well as how the craft will be built. By 2034, the ESA has to have an official confirmation of the mission plan so that everything can be completed and a launch can take place in the 2040s.

Once launched, the craft would take a very long journey to meet up with Enceladus and hopefully send us back evidence of life out in space.

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