Mimas – My WordPress Site

Sketch of the MT strategy, highlighting the dynamical models used in the distinct phases of the tour. -- math.DS

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Dione, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mimas, Missions & Hardware, Rhea, Saturn, Tethys, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Low-Energy and Low-Thrust Exploration Tour of Saturnian Moons with Full Lunar Surface Coverage

by Keith CowingMarch 11, 2026March 11, 2026

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 ensuring low fuel consumption and compatibility with current power and propulsion technologies (radioisotope thermoelectric generators and Hall effect thrusters).

Major icy bodies in the Solar System, with the Earth’s moon to scale. The images are shown at the proper relative size. From NASA’s Planetary Photojournal (https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/), Earth’s Moon (PIA00302), Europa (PIA00502), Ganymede (PIA00716), Callisto (PIA03456), Mimas (PIA06258), Enceladus (PIA06254), Tethys (PIA07738), Dione (PIA08256), Rhea (PIA08256), Titan (PIA08256), Hyperion (PIA07740), Iapetus (PIA08384), Phoebe (PIA06064), Miranda (PIA18185), Ariel (PIA01534), Umbriel (PIA00040), Titania (PIA01979), Oberon (PIA00034), Triton (PIA00317), Pluto (PIA19952). -- astro-ph.EP

Ariel, Astrogeology, Callisto, Ceres, Charon, Dione, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Iapetus, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars, Mimas, Miranda, Missions & Hardware, Moon, Oberon, Phoebe, Pluto, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Rhea, Tethys, Titan, Titania, Triton, Umbriel, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Icy Worlds: Moons And Dwarf Planets

by Keith CowingDecember 1, 2025December 1, 2025

Saturn's moon Mimas, imaged by the Cassini spacecraft. A new study shows how such small ice moons could sustain a liquid ocean beneath an icy shell, and how that could give rise to surface features. Credit By NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute

Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Mimas, Miranda, Titania

Looking Inside Icy Moons

by Keith CowingNovember 25, 2025November 25, 2025

The continuum-divided spectra of the Saturnian satellites, in the region of the O-D absorption. The red line shows a gaussian fit to the data using a fixed width. Most satellites have separate measurements for the leading and trailing hemispheres, but Hyperion and Phoebe, which are not synchronously rotating, only have single measurements. The O-D absorption is robustly detected at nearly every satellite. -- astro-ph.EP

Dione, Hyperion, Iapetus, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mimas, Phoebe, Rhea, Saturn

Deuterated Water Ice On The Satellites Of Saturn

by Keith CowingOctober 17, 2025October 17, 2025

An average of the continuum-removed spectra of the leading and trailing hemispheres of Mimas and Tethys and the leading hemispheres of Dione and Rhea, in black, and of the trailing hemispheres of Dione and Rhea, in red. The lines at the bottom show measured wavelengths of CO2 in different states, including in pure crystalline form and trapped as clathrate in crystalline water ice (Oancea et al. 2012), trapped in amorphous ice (Sandford & Allamandola 1990; G´alvez et al. 2008) and physisorbed onto minerals (Hibbitts & Szanyi 2007), which can lead to a wide range of wavelengths. The shorter wavelength 4.2487 µm line associated with the darker hemispheres of Dione and Rhea appears to have no corresponding absorption in the 2.7 µm region. -- astro-ph.EP

Dione, Enceladus, Hyperion, Iapetus, Icy Worlds, Mimas, Phoebe, Rhea, Saturn, Tethys

A JWST Study Of CO2 On The Satellites Of Saturn

by Keith CowingOctober 6, 2025October 6, 2025

via PubMed

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Ceres, Cryobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Exploration Gear & Tech, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Mimas, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Through-Ice Acoustic Communication For Ocean Worlds Exploration

by Keith CowingSeptember 22, 2024September 22, 2024

In a futuristic world where teleportation technology has become a reality, a bustling cityscape filled with towering skyscrapers and advanced architecture stands in the background.

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mimas, Saturn, Tethys, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Evolution Of A Young Ocean Within Mimas

by Keith CowingAugust 19, 2024October 7, 2025

A representative sample of nine historical events from Table 5. The top row shows nearby (< 4 kpc) events for which a combination of all three mass-distance relations (θE, πE, lens flux) give an unambiguously measured lens mass and distance. The yellow data with error bars shows the best fit result from image-constrained modeling, the blue contours give the posterior distribution (central 39%, 86%, 99%) from pyLIMASS. The middle row shows more distant events (> 4 kpc) for which the estimate of lens mass and distance is still relatively accurate but less precise. The bottom row shows problematic events for which there are degeneracies that remain (MB10328; Vandorou et al. 2025b), or the identification of the lens is dubious (MB11262; Terry et al. 2025b), or the significantly overlapping θE and πE relations result in large errors (OB141760; Rektsini et al. 2025).-- astro-ph.EP

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrobiology (general), Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Ceres, Enceladus, Europa, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Life Support Systems, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars, Microbiology & Virology, Mimas, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Space Life Science, Titan, Tricorders & Sensors, Triton, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Marine Science Can Contribute to the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life

by Keith CowingJune 9, 2024June 9, 2024

The Protein Domain Insertion Optimizer, abbreviated as ProDomino, can forecast which protein domains – like domino tiles – have to be fitted together to engineer a merged protein with new properties. | © Jan Mathony, Benedict Wolf

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Enceladus, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mimas, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

A Simplified Model for the Forced Libration of Icy Moons with Subsurface Oceans: Application to Enceladus and Mimas

by Keith CowingMay 7, 2024May 7, 2024

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mimas, Saturn, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Evidence And Concerns About A Latent, Embryonic Phase Tectonic Evolution And The Existence Of The Young Subsurface Ocean On Mimas

by Keith CowingApril 23, 2024August 17, 2024