This study presents the trajectory design for a mission touring Saturn’s Inner Large Moons (Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, and Mimas) engineered to meet observational requirements, including full surface coverage, while […]
In the outer solar system beyond Jupiter, water ice is a dominant component of planetary bodies, and most solid objects in this region are classified as icy bodies.
The outer planets of the Solar System are swarmed by ice-wrapped moons. Some of these, such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus, are known to have oceans of liquid water between the […]
The deuterium to hydrogen ratio in water ice in a planetary body carries important information on the history of water processing and delivery in the protostellar nebula.
Solid state CO2 has been detected throughout the outer solar system, even at temperatures where crystalline CO2 is unstable, requiring that the CO2 be trapped in a separate host material.
The fractured, young surfaces on confirmed ocean worlds such as Europa and Enceladus suggest that ocean-bearing moons with relatively thin overlying ice shells should be easy to identify. Hence, the […]
In this work, we investigate a minimalist model capable of accurately replicating the forced librations of an icy moon with a subsurface ocean.
New models challenge the long-standing conclusion about Mimas, an icy satellite of Saturn, being an inactive snowball, suggesting the existence of a young stealth ocean.
Saturn’s moon Mimas could have grown a huge underground ocean as its orbital eccentricity decreased to its present value and caused its icy shell to melt and thin.
Editor’s note: when we begin to robotically explore the ice-covered oceans of Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Mimas etc. we’ll need to make the most of the visits. Learning how to best […]
