Enceladus

At a Glance

Official Name	Enceladus (Saturn II)
Discovery	John Herschel, 1847 CE, Earth
Class	Class F Moon (Frozen)
Location	Sol System; Saturn Space
Founding	December 19, 2122 CE (Earth Calendar)
Affiliation(s)	United Federation of Planets (2171); - Outer Worlds Commonwealth (2122) - Bright Thinktank (2125)
Population	17,881 (2400 Census) - Eilat Hub- 7,532 - Eilat Anchorage- 9,873 - Unincorporated- 476
Sentients	Humans, Others (> 0.4%)
Language(s)	Federation Linguacode; English, Punjabi, Hebrew, Urdu
Government	Technocratic Judiciary with Petition (Local) - Enceladan Commonality Parliamentary Judiciary with Petition (OWC)
Leader(s)	Chief Justice Carol Yen, 6 other Justices - Proctor Chaim Singh (Commonality)

Designated Saturn II by the Federation's official Catalog of Astronomical Bodies, Enceladus is one of the most reflective bodies in the Sol System. It is a small moon- the sixth largest of Saturn's 141 moons- and the 18th largest in Sol. The moon has an equatorial diameter of 513 kilometers. The moon boasts two principle colonies and several unincorporated "bathyscaphe" habitats which are part of the Federation Science Council. All are member polities of the Outer Worlds Commonwealth and are part of the Saturn Bloc.

Enceladus is comprised of an ice crust between twenty-five and forty kilometers thick, with a very tenuous atmosphere of water vapor and a few other volatiles. The glacial crust covers an equatorial and subtropical zone "global ocean" while the northern and southern temperate zones form super-caverns filled with slushy and liquid water trapped inside icy warrens. The polar zones are unstable and have combinations of free water and a thinner ice cover. These areas are cryovolcanic.

Where Enceladus has global oceans, these bodies can be as deep as fifteen kilometers. Beneath the ocean zone is a solid core made of silica, carbon and trace amounts of metals.

Along with Europa and Titan, Enceladus was an early contender for theoretical life independent of evolution on Earth. Confirmation would not take place until after World War III, though circumstantial evidence was discovered by the Cassini probe starting in 2005 CE. Enceladus has a rich if primitive biodiversity.

Stellar Cartography

Located in Sol System in Sector 001, Enceladus is the sixth smallest and second closest moon of Saturn. It is located in the bright, outermost "E-Ring" of Saturn's orbital space and is the genesis that creates this ring. Enceladus is between Mimas (Saturn I) and Tethys (Saturn III); both are dead bodies of ice and rock. Enceladus orbits at about 180,000 kilometers from Saturn's upper atmosphere.

Tidal Locking and Hydrothermal Energy

Enceladus is tidally locked to its parent planet Saturn, create a "sub-Saturn" pole and an "anti-Saturn" pole. Encedalus "bulges" around the equator toward Saturn and this bulging effect creates the tidal forces that keep Enceladus' composition partially liquid. The other moons in orbit also have pronounced effects on Enceladus- particularly Titan- and again keeps the interior of Enceladus dynamic.

Geology

Enceladus is a small moon that has little in common with a Minshara-class world. It is merely 513 kilometers at its equator. It achieved hydrostatic equilibrium in that it is spherical and it has differentiated between light molecules and heavier elements. The moon has an icy crust, a water mantle and a solid rocky core. The gravity of the nearby moons and its parent planet Saturn acting on Enceladus have profound effects on the small moon.

Almost none of Enceladus' surface is anything like a traditional world. But Enceladus is so cold that its ice is as hard- and as brittle- as granite. Gravitational effects and that brittleness, and the fact it is only tenuously anchored to the core via a sub-surface ocean, makes much of the surface a dangerous place. Enceladus is akin to an egg. Its crust can be easily cracked with a squeeze here and pressure there.

Sub-Saturn Bulge

Enceladus is not a sphere- it is an oblong ellipse. The intense gravity of Saturn creates a bulge that constantly faces Saturn's surface. The gravitational and thermal pressures of this bulge is what forms most of the Enceladan Tropical Ocean. The Anti-Saturn Pole- the side that never faces Saturn- is intermittently affected by Titan and other moons so it too has liquidity. This push and pull mechanic between the moons and Saturn is like a pulsing hand around the Enceladus "egg." These events keep its interior plastic, it generates cryovolcanism and convection within the oceans, if often prone to seismic shifts and unpredictable events.

Water Ice Shell

"Snow" and Sand

Sluici: "Tiger Stripes"

Cryovolcanoes

Labyrinthes: Canyons

Craters

Planum: Plateaus, Ice Shelfs and "Flats"

Under the Ice

One of the most shocking aspects of Enceladus to early scientists pouring over probe data was Enceladus' apparent composition. They had expected a heavily ammoniated or methanated sub-surface, a blend of water and volatile organics. What they found- and confirmed a century later- was that Enceladus has a salty water ocean and while it has methane and ammonia, not so much to affect the water's structure. The water was also replete with organic compounds, including carbon and some building blocks for amino acids.

By Earth standards, Enceladus' gravity makes for water that is nearly stagnant. Its convection is primarily tidal forces acting upon the moon, though some modern evidence suggests that radioactive carbon decay is happening in its core. There are no big "storms" in Enceladus' oceans, no major ocean currents. But there is "pull" as gravitational bodies approach and subside as the moon passes. These pulls stir up detritus and occasionally cause the release of methane and ammonia pockets in ice or from the ocean floor.

Enceladus' oceans are in direct contact with its rocky core. The core acts similarly to an ocean floor some five to fifteen kilometers below the ice. That depth is similar to Earth's deepest oceans. But with less than 3% of Earth's gravity, the water pressure is not particularly challenging.

Polar

Temperate Zone Warrens

Tropical Abysses

Beyond Fifteen Kilometers

Seismic and Hydrothermal Activity

Life

Enceladan life is primitive by Earth standards, primarily carbon-based, and usually methane-fixing for gaining energy. Most life on Enceladus engage in symbiosis with anaerobic archaeobacteria which provide sustenance in exchange for mobility and a sustainable life shell. The sun's energy does not penetrate this deep under the ice, but some life (which clings to the underside of the ice) does harvest radiation from Saturn.

Smell, Taste and Touch

Enceladus is naturally a light-less environment. Thus, no known Enceladan life forms have eyes- they don't need them. Enceladan life relies heavily on detecting chemical changes in the water- particularly for methane and the breakdown of other organic molecules. They also have feelers for sensing vibration and movement- both for detecting food and safety. The waters of Enceladus are generally quite calm aside from thermal convection and seismic waves.

Equilibrium vs. Predation

Enceladus doesn't have plants. It's "producers" are colonies of bacteria that grow either in large colonies suspended in an ectoplasmic goo, or else grows within the life form. These "goo patches" are roughly equivalent to coral reefs or kelp forests on Earth and grow near methane pockets. In turn, these bacteria are harvested by life forms and sustained in the body rather than consumed. Since most of these bacteria are methane-fixing, they need sources of methane. Mobile life forms provide transport.

Colonial Transplants

Scavengers

There are certainly predators on Enceladus- life that consumes other life. And they use the "goo patches" as a natural hunting ground. But they are quite rare. Scavenging- consuming dead life forms- is much more common.