New study suggests the existence of subsurface oceans on four large moons of Uranus

(NASA / JPL-Caltech https://bit.ly/44CENBG)

Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory - JPL have found that the four large moons of Uranus concluded that they may have residual subsurface oceans.

The oceans on Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon can be less than 30-50 kilometers thick, hypersaline, and contain ammonia.

Uranus and its satellites remain one of the least explored planetary systems in the solar system; they were visited only by the Voyager 2 automatic probe.

All other observations are carried out using ground-based and near-Earth telescopes, and their target is most often Uranus itself.

Uranus' major and largest moons Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon are interesting targets for NASA's ongoing Uranian Orbital Probe project.

That project could be launched into space in the next 10 years.

They are composed of rocks and frozen volatiles, little is known about the internal structure of the satellites.

In particular, some models predict the possible presence of oceans containing ammonia, which will act as an antifreeze, while other models doubt the effectiveness of ammonia as an antifreeze.

---

---

NEW OBSERVATIONS
Now a group of NASA planetary scientists led by Julie Castillo-Rogez decided to revisit the current theoretical understanding of the composition and structure of Uranus' large moons.

Scientists reanalyzed data from Voyager 2 and ground-based telescopes, and considered data on other icy bodies obtained using

• Galileo
• Cassini
• Dawn
• New Horizons

Then they built computer models of satellites and their evolution using all that information.

The researchers concluded that Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon could have retained liquid under their surface until now due to heat from the decay of radioisotopes, combined with reduced thermal conductivity of the outer shell (which may be due to its porosity).

These moons of Uranus are expected to be more likely to contain residual oceans than global oceans.

Those oceans might be less than 30 kilometers thick on Ariel and Umbriel and less than 50 kilometers thick on Titania and Oberon.

Miranda is unlikely to contain liquid water now, unless it experienced an episode of tidal heating several tens of millions of years ago.

If the residual oceans are composed of a water-based hypersaline fluid, then their induced magnetic fields can be detected by the space probe's magnetometer.

However, if the oceans do not freeze, mainly due to ammonia, then their temperature can be much lower than the freezing point of water, and the electrical conductivity is too low to be detected by a spacecraft.

The problem of the potential habitability of these oceans is still poorly understood, but it is possible that some microorganisms are still able to survive in such hard environments.

Sources:

• Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022JE007432
• Space.com: https://www.space.com/uranus-four-biggest-moons-buried-oceans
• Mashable: https://mashable.com/article/uranus-moons-oceans-nasa

---

---

Wanna relax, sleep or improve your focus?
Check this rain sound video: https://bit.ly/rainsfocus

---

---

#science #space #uranus #moons #water #steemexclusive #nftmc