Water on Uranus's Moons?

On December 15, 2020, researchers led by Benjamin Weiss, a planetary scientist at MIT, shared his findings. His team developed a future mission to confirm that there are oceans below Uranus's moons' surface. The team hopes to better understand if potential life can inhabit other celestial objects or if there is already life on other celestial objects. 

Picture Taken by Voyager 2 Showing
Uranus and Its 5 Major Moons

Uranus has 27 moons. Uranus has 13 inner moons, five major moons, and nine irregular moons. All of Uranus's inner moons are intimately connected with the rings of Uranus. Scientists believe that this resulted from the fragmentation of several smaller moons. Next are the five major moons: Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, and Miranda. Finally, there are nine irregular moons. These moons are all different in many ways, with some having weird orbits while others are farther away from Uranus.

Uranus's 5 Major Moons Left to Right:
Miranda, Ariel, Umbirel, Titania and Oberon

In 1986, Voyager 2 discovered the five major moons mentioned above. When it took images of the moons, scientists realized that the moons were heavily cratered. However, they also learned that the moons' photos showed signs of liquid water coming out from the moon and freezing on the surface. This phenomenon is known as cryovolcanism. It occurs when a substance ocean comes in contact with space and freezes due to the extreme temperatures.

While Weiss and his team believe that there may be oceans on the subsurface, they know that it is more likely that the oceans are much farther away from the surface. This is because Uranus's moons are colder and would more likely have a thicker crust.

Artists Depiction of Voyager 2 
Traveling by Uranus

Currently, NASA doesn't have any plans to send a probe to study Uranus and its moons. However, they are considering a mission to Neptune called Trident, which may gather some information about Uranus while on its way to Neptune. NASA will decide the mission's fate next year during an annual planning meeting.

Other moons in our solar system have shown evidence of there being liquid oceans and liquid water. These moons are Europa (moon of Jupiter), Enceladus (moon of Saturn), and Ganymede (moon of Jupiter). NASA has also provided evidence of oceans and liquid water being on other celestial objects, including Mars, Ceres, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Future missions are being planned to determine the truth about water existing on other celestial bodies.

Uranus and Its Six Largest Moons Pictured from Left to Right:
Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon

Sources:

Gohd, Chelsea. “Are Secret Oceans Hiding on the Moons of Uranus?” Space.com, Space, 22 Dec. 2020, www.space.com/uranus-moons-hiding-secret-oceans. 

“Moons of Uranus.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Uranus.