Even Ganymede is Showing Tectonic Activity. We're Going to Need Another Icy Moon Orbiter
Ganymede was shaped by pronounced periods of tectonic activity in the past, according to a new paper. It's no longer active and its surface is more-or-less frozen in place now. But this discovery opens the door to better planning for future missions to Jupiter's other frozen moon Europa. Unlike Ganymede, Europa is still tectonically active, and understanding past geological activity on Ganymede helps us understand present-day Europa.
Ganymede is one of Jupiter's moons, and it has a sub-surface ocean under a solid layer of frost and ice. The moon shows signs of strike-slip faulting, or strike-slip tectonism. On Earth, this type of tectonic activity created features like the San Andreas fault, a seismically-active region at the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.
Europa is considered a prime target in the search for life in our Solar System because of its sub-surface ocean. Europa is exposed to Jupiter's intense radiation, but the icy sphere surrounding the sub-surface ocean may act as a radiation barrier, protecting life from its harmful effects. Not only is the sub-surface ocean protected from radiation, it's warm.
Ganymede will be visited by ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, which should launch in June 2022, reach Jupiter orbit in October 2029, and orbit Ganymede starting in 2033. The mission may include a Russian-built Ganymede lander.
Morphological mapping of Ganymede: Investigating the role of strike-slip tectonics in the evolution of terrain types (DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2018.06.024) (DX)
1982 paper: The tectonics of Ganymede (DOI: 10.1038/295290a0) (DX)
Related: NASA Analyzes Forgotten Galileo Data from Flyby of Ganymede
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NASA dusts off FORTRAN manual, revives 20-year-old data on Ganymede
NASA scientists have made some new discoveries about Jupiter's giant moon Ganymede, thanks to a dedicated team, an elderly VAX machine and 20-year-old data from the long-defunct Galileo probe.
Fifteen years after Galileo (no, not that one) ended its days with a plunge into the atmosphere of Jupiter, NASA scientists have resurrected the 20-year-old datasets and added more detail to the puzzle of Ganymede's magnetosphere.
The new data, published in Geophysical Research Letters [DOI: 10.1002/2017GL075487] [DX], paints a picture of a stormy environment, with particles blasted off the moon's icy surface by incoming plasma raining down from Jupiter.
Ganymede is the solar system's largest and most massive satellite, but has slightly lower surface gravity than the Moon (0.146g vs 0.165g). Like many other icy objects in the solar system, Ganymede may have liquid oceans capable of supporting life. ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) will fly by Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa before eventually orbiting Ganymede. It may also include a Russian-built Ganymede lander.
Also at NASA.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday October 16 2018, @04:35PM (2 children)
"Ganymede Volcanoes"
Did you mean "Man, he peed on all those hoes"
Wait, how did this joke post turn political?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 16 2018, @11:00PM (1 child)
Didn't turn political. It even didn't turn into a joke.
It's so lame, I won't spend a downmod point; let it remain visible as a reminder for the depth the lameness can reach. True, it can turn even more lame if you try to explain it
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday October 16 2018, @11:29PM
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday October 17 2018, @01:30AM
Yet another mission to Jupiter? I mean, sure, it's cool to look over the Galilean moons in greater detail than ever before. But why are orbiters to Uranus and Neptune not getting higher priority?