Tag

Subsurface Ocean

All articles tagged with #subsurface ocean

space22 days ago•133 min saved

Europa’s Hidden Ocean May Not Reveal Itself in Surface Plumes

New computer simulations suggest Europa’s icy crust is a formidable barrier: liquid water rising through fractures would churn and rapidly cool, likely freezing into frazil ice before reaching near-surface depths. Therefore, shallow liquid pockets seen by the Europa Clipper (arriving around 2030) may reflect local ice melting rather than direct upwellings from the deep ocean, affecting how scientists interpret potential habitability signals and where to look for clues during future missions (also relevant to JUICE).

via Space|

#astrobiology #europa #europa-clipper

space1 month ago•14 min saved

Europa's ocean lies beneath a 29-kilometer ice shell, new Juno data suggest

A Juno Microwave Radiometer study estimates an average conductive ice shell of about 29 ± 10 km over Europa’s ocean in the observed region, favoring a thick-shell interpretation. The result is model-based and region-specific, not a global map, and factors like salt content or convection could shift the thickness. This finding tightens the barrier between surface ice and the ocean and underscores why Europa Clipper’s radar, gravity and other measurements are needed to test regional variation and the moon’s habitability potential.

via Space Daily|

#europa #habitability #ice-shell

science1 month ago•2 min saved

Europa's Shallow Waters Don't Signal a Readily Reachable Deep Ocean

A Nature Astronomy study using more realistic models of water flow in Europa’s icy shell finds that shallow surface pools are unlikely to be direct conduits from the moon’s deep ocean, because turbulent water would rapidly lose heat and clog fractures; thus surface water likely originates from melted crust rather than the deep ocean, and future missions should determine its origin rather than assume a connection to the deep ocean.

via Gizmodo|

#europa #icy-crust #nature-astronomy

space1 month ago•10 min saved

Hidden Oceans Likely Beneath Uranus’ Titania and Oberon

Thermal models suggest Uranus’s moons Titania and Oberon could host tens-of-kilometre-scale subsurface oceans kept warm by long-lived radioactive decay in their rocky interiors, not by sunlight. While not yet confirmed by direct measurements, these moons are strong ocean-world candidates, potentially expanding the solar system’s roster of habitable worlds; a future Uranus orbiter could test for signs of oceans via gravity, magnetic, and surface observations, with Ariel and Umbriel also flagged as possible candidates under certain conditions and tides providing extra heating.

via Space Daily|

#oberon #ocean-worlds #space

space1 month ago•13 min saved

Tiny Enceladus Emits a Wide Ocean Plume, Hinting at a Habitable World Beneath Saturn’s Ice

Despite being only about 500 km across, Enceladus vents a global plume of water, ice and salts from fractures near its south pole; JWST mapped water as far as about 10,000 km away, and Cassini detected salts, phosphates, hydrogen and a suite of organic compounds, pointing to a global salty ocean beneath the ice with hydrothermal activity and chemical energy—making Enceladus a potentially habitable ocean world, though no life has been detected and future missions could sample plume grains directly.

via Space Daily|

#enceladus #habitability #saturn-moon

space1 month ago•13 min saved

Europa's Hidden Ocean Could Surpass Earth's Seas, Kept Liquid by Jupiter's Tides

Europa, Jupiter's icy moon, may harbor a global salty ocean beneath its shell—potentially twice Earth's oceans—kept liquid by tidal heating from Jupiter's gravity. Evidence from Galileo's magnetic measurements and NASA's Europa Clipper mission suggests a conductive ocean beneath a likely thick ice shell, with no drilling yet. Clipper will conduct ~50 flybys using radar, magnetic, gravity, and thermal instruments to map the ice, probe the ocean, and assess habitability, not life detection. The ocean's persistence depends on ice thickness, heat transport, and chemistry, making Europa a leading target for understanding habitable worlds beyond Earth.

via Space Daily|

#astrobiology #europa #jupiter

science1 month ago•13 min saved

Starless Rogue-Moon Orbits Could Sustain Long-Lived Subsurface Oceans

A 2025 arXiv modelling study suggests moons bound to planets ejected by supernovae could remain in interstellar space and heat internal oceans via tidal flexing, potentially keeping subsurface oceans for billions of years without sunlight. In simulations, 12–15% of cases yielded heating within the Europa/Enceladus range; surfaces would stay frozen and oceans would be buried, but the internal heat could sustain liquid water. The work is theoretical and depends on model inputs, and no confirmed rogue-planet moons have been observed yet; still, it widens habitable-setting thinking beyond star warmth.

via Space Daily|

#exomoons #habitability #rogue-planets

science1 month ago•13 min saved

Europa's Buried Ocean: Galileo’s Point Sparks a Vast Subsurface Sea

From Galileo's 1610 sighting of a tiny moon near Jupiter, scientists now consider Europa to host a global salty ocean buried under kilometers of ice, potentially larger than Earth's oceans. Magnetic data and surface geology suggest a 60–150 km-deep ocean under a 15–25 km ice shell, but no direct samples exist yet. NASA's Europa Clipper will study the ice shell, ocean, and chemistry to assess habitability without drilling through the ice or directly seeking life.

via Space Daily|

#europa #europa-clipper #ice-shell

space2 months ago•11 min saved

Europa's Fresh Surface Hints at a Hidden Ocean

Europa’s surface is unusually crater-free, implying a young, constantly renewed ice crust. Tidal heating from Jupiter sustains internal warmth, likely keeping a global salty ocean beneath the ice; ridges, chaos terrain and possible plumes point to ongoing resurfacing that erases craters. The Europa Clipper and ESA’s JUICE missions will map the ice and probe for direct ocean evidence to test these ideas.

via Space Daily|

#europa #icy-moon #jupiter

space2 months ago•4 min saved

Ceres Reveals Hidden Brines and Cryovolcanic Activity Beneath Occator Crater

NASA’s Dawn data show Ceres has a complex surface with a gravity anomaly indicating subsurface brines beneath Occator crater, where bright deposits like Cerealia Facula and Vinalia Facula suggest recent cryovolcanic activity. The findings point to a possible past subsurface ocean, a high water content around 25%, and ongoing surface modification from impacts, making a future orbiter/lander sample-return mission plausible to study these features in detail.

via Universe Today|

#ceres #cryovolcanism #dawn-mission

space3 months ago•13 min saved

Galileo’s Swan Song: NASA Sacrificed a Probe to Shield Europa’s Hidden Ocean

In 2003 NASA deliberately crashed the Galileo spacecraft into Jupiter to prevent a potential contaminant from a drifting probe reaching Europa, after data suggested a subsurface salty ocean on Europa (and discoveries about other Jovian moons). The decision reflected planetary-protection rules: if a world could harbor life, a failing or abandoned spacecraft must not risk introducing Earth biology. Galileo’s extended mission delivered key findings about Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, and its disposal set a precedent for how future outer-planet missions are planned to avoid contaminating ocean worlds like Europa.

via Space Daily|

#europa #galileo #nasa

space3 months ago•10 min saved

Enceladus: sampling an alien ocean without landing via its plume

Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn, hides a global ocean beneath its ice and vents a plume of water vapor and ice grains through south-pole fractures, feeding Saturn’s E ring. Cassini flew through this plume from 2004–2017, sampling material from the ocean that had been altered en route and finding organic compounds and phosphorus, which points to habitability rather than life—no life-detection instruments were onboard. Future missions with dedicated biosignature instruments could probe further, but none are funded yet; current insights come from re-analysis of Cassini data and the plume’s status as a processed sample of an alien ocean.

via Space Daily|

#astrobiology #enceladus #plume

space6 months ago•14 min saved

Miranda's Hidden Ocean Reframes the Search for Life on Uranus' Moon

A Planetary Science Journal study reexamining Voyager 2 data suggests Miranda, a moon of Uranus, could have hosted a deep subsurface ocean (potentially ≥100 km) in the last 100–500 million years, with tidal heating possibly keeping liquid water inside. While conclusive evidence of life isn’t found, this makes Miranda a notable candidate in the broader search for extraterrestrial life and informs the Drake Equation’s life-fraction term.

via Hackaday|

#extraterrestrial-life #miranda #planetary-science

space7 months ago•74 min saved

Drifting surface ice could ferry life-supporting chemicals to Europa’s hidden ocean

Washington State University researchers model lithospheric foundering on Jupiter’s moon Europa, showing that salt-rich surface ice can sink through the ice shell and transport oxidants formed by Jupiter’s radiation into the subsurface ocean in as little as 30,000 years, potentially delivering the ingredients needed for life and informing upcoming Europa Clipper investigations.

via Space|

#astrobiology #europa #ice

science8 months ago•5 min saved

Recent Studies Question the Existence of a Subsurface Ocean on Titan

A new study suggests Saturn's moon Titan may not have a buried ocean but instead contains widespread pockets of liquid water within a layer of ice, challenging previous assumptions about its internal structure and habitability potential.

via Space|

#liquid-water #moon #saturn