Alex McColgan

This is Enceladus, Saturn's sixth largest moon.

A tiny world orbiting a giant planet.

But don't let its seemingly unimpressive size fool you.

When the Cassini space probe found huge cryovolcanic plumes erupting from its south pole, this little world brought the entire scientific community to a standstill.

What was going on?

Flying through these icy jets got us closer to an answer.

The probe discovered water, organic molecules, and hints of a hidden ocean filled with hydrothermal vents.

But in 2017, Cassini ran out of fuel.

As it dived into Saturn, it took with it our only means of probing Enceladus, leaving us with countless unanswered questions.

Does it have a global ocean?

What exactly is happening below the surface?

And most importantly, could it be home to life?

A decade on, we've not yet returned to Enceladus, but the science hasn't stopped.

The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its attention to the Moon, and researchers are still mining the data that Cassini sent back.

And luckily, we found more answers than you might think.

I'm Alex McColgan, and you're watching Astrum.

Join me today as we return to this surprise in the Saturn system, explore the incredible chemical complexity hiding below its surface, and reveal how 10-year-old data is still shocking us, all in the search for life beyond Earth.

At just 500 km across, Enceladus is a tiny world.

It's similar in size to the state of Arizona.

It orbits 238,000 km from Saturn, where the Sun is a mere distant spark, and surface temperatures average a bone-chilling minus 201 degrees Celsius.