A couple of big stories happened overnight (Australian time) at NASA, here’s a brief recap:

SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM BOOSTER TEST FIRE

It’s the largest, most powerful rocket bosster ever built and it was fired up successfully Wednesday as the first of two qualifying tests. This major milestone ground test is in preparation for future missions to deep space destinations including an asteroid and Mars by 2030.

The booster fired for two minutes – the same duration as it would on a real mission – at the test facility of commercial partner Orbital ATK in the Promontory in Utah.

During the test, more than 531 instrumentation channels on the booster were measured to help assess some 102 design objectives.

CASSINI PROVIDES EVIDENCE OF ENCELADUS HYDROTHERMAL ACTIVITY

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has provided the first evidence Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, exhibits signs of present-day hydrothermal activity which may have parrallels to Earth’s ocean depths. The implications of such a discovery could open up unprecedented scientific possibilities.

Hydrothermal activty occurs when seawater infiltrates and reacts with a rocky crust and emerges as a heated, mineral-rich solution… which naturally occurs on Earth.