a global, liquid water ocean beneath a 24-31-km thick ice shell, according to a new analysis of data from NASA’s Cassini mission.
Such worlds include the icy satellites of the giant planets, such as Europa, Titan and Enceladus, as well as distant planets like Pluto. “Because the surface of Mimas is heavily cratered, we thought it was just a frozen block of ice,” said Dr. Alyssa Rhoden, a researcher with the Southwest Research Institute.
Using tidal heating models, Dr. Rhoden and Planetary Science Institute’s Dr. Matthew Walker developed numerical methods to create the most plausible explanation for a steady-state ice shell between 24 and 31 km thick over a liquid ocean. The scientists also found that the heat flow from the surface was very sensitive to the thickness of the ice shell, something a spacecraft could verify.
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