{
  "id": 9052396,
  "title": "Smashed Icy Moons Cool Too Rapidly to Retain Oceans",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/22/smashed-icy-moons-cool-too-rapidly-to-retain-oceans",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-22T00:56:25.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Universe Today",
    "slug": "universe-today",
    "url": "https://www.universetoday.com/articles/smashed-icy-moons-cool-too-rapidly-to-retain-oceans"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Recent findings from a team of international scientists, including researchers from NASA, the Southwest Research Institute, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, may provide a solution to a long-standing question about the formation and evolution of subsurface oceans on icy moons within our solar system. The study, published in Nature Astronomy, used computer models to shed light on the impact large celestial collisions have on the formation of these potential ocean worlds.\n\nThe primary focus of the research was on smaller moons of Saturn and Uranus, such as Enceladus, Titan, Dione, Titania, Oberon, Ariel, Umbriel, and Miranda. These moons have sparked debates about whether they currently possess or previously possessed active subsurface oceans. The central motivation behind the study was to determine whether these smaller moons were originally formed as moons or if they evolved from the remnants of a massive impact on a larger body.\n\nThe researchers concluded that large impacts do not influence the formation of new ocean worlds; instead, they only affect the size of an existing ocean and its lifespan. This is attributed to the mixture of ice and rock within these moons. When large impacts occur, the denser rock sinks to the bottom, preventing the ice from melting into water and forming a new ocean. Consequently, the ocean either freezes over or ceases to exist altogether.\n\nDr. Alyssa Rhoden, a principal scientist at SwRI and co-author of the study, explained the implications of these findings: \"Imagine a small, frozen moon that isn't doing much of anything. If you were to hit it with something and cause a big collision, would that deliver enough energy to form an ocean? Our models showed that this is incredibly difficult. Most of the time, a small moon experiencing a disturbance might lose its ocean or prevent one from forming in the first place.\"\n\nWhile this research focused on the moons of Saturn and Uranus, particularly Enceladus, Dione, Titania, Oberon, Ariel, Umbriel, and Miranda, there are numerous other potential ocean worlds scattered throughout the solar system, including Jupiter's Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, Saturn's largest moon Titan, the dwarf planet Pluto, Ceres, and Neptune's Triton.\n\nDespite the ongoing debate regarding the past or present existence of ocean worlds among Uranian moons, the only mission to visit Uranus to date was the Voyager 2 flyby in January 1986. No missions are currently scheduled to explore Uranus. However, two missions actively exploring ocean worlds are on the horizon: NASA's Europa Clipper, aiming to arrive at Jupiter in April 2030, and NASA's Dragonfly, a quadcopter slated for launch in July 2028, with an estimated arrival at Titan in 2034.",
  "summary": "There are more than 450 confirmed moons orbiting the eight major planets, but only a handful of them provide unique scientific value to pique the interests of the scientific community, specifically their potential for hosting life as we know it. This is due to the subsurface oceans that exist beneath icy crusts, including Jupiter’s Europa and Ganymede, and Saturn’s Enceladus. But what processes…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}