--- title: "Saturn’s “Death Star” Moon Could be Hiding a Massive Ocean" description: "There's no more evidence than ever that Mimas, Saturn's \"Death Star\" moon, may be home to a giant underground ocean." date: "2024-08-17" modified: "2024-08-17" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/more-evidence-saturn-ocean-moon" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "Space" tags: - "mimas" - "ocean moon" - "saturn" - "the digest" --- # Saturn’s “Death Star” Moon Could be Hiding a Massive Ocean ![There's no more evidence than ever that Mimas, Saturn's "Death Star" moon, may be home to a giant underground ocean.]() *\Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute via Getty\* ## Switching Teams The evidence that Mimas, Saturn's "Death Star" moon, [may be home to a giant underground ocean]() is growing. As [*Knowable Magazine* reports](), a new study not only makes a case for an ocean on the moon, but it might help explain some of the discrepancies that have led some scientists to criticize the concept of a Mimesean ocean. Since 2014, when scientists studying data from NASA's Cassini probe found that [Mimas has a weird wobble]() that seems to only occur on water-bearing satellites, there's been [ample pushback]() to the concept that the moon may have an ocean hidden under its icy surface. Because there were no cracks on its icy surface that would accompany such an ocean existing on the [heavily-cratered "Death Star"-like moon](), detractors argued that the theory was a non-starter. One of those skeptics, planetary scientist Alyssa Rhoden, has apparently come around to the idea. She and her colleagues at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado published a study in the [journal *Earth and Planetary Science Letters*]() suggesting that Mimas may have a young ocean hidden underneath its icy exterior after all. In the ensuing years, there's been more and more evidence lending credence to the Mimas ocean theory — and after a study published earlier this year in the [journal *Nature*](), scientists like Rhoden are now more interested in the *how* than the *if*. ## Critical Thinking One of the biggest previous arguments against Mimas' hidden ocean is that it would be too cold to sustain flowing water without some sort of known internal heat force — but the planetary scientist behind the more recent study has a solution for that quandary, too. "Distant oceans might at first seem out of the question," Rhoden told *Knowable*. "Heat to melt ice is hard to come by so far from the Sun. But thanks to a gravitational quirk, the outer solar system can be quite balmy." The ex-skeptic points to [Jupiter's ocean moon Europa](), which has the interior friction necessary to sustain a flowing ocean below its surface thanks to its elliptical orbit that stretches and releases the satellite over time. As that friction occurred, the conditions became ripe for water to form underneath the surface, but because the ocean is "so young" at "merely ten million years old," Rhoden says that it hasn't left any visible surface fractures that would have pointed to its existence with telescopes. Overall, this research arc has been "a little sad" because Rhoden and her team believe that Mimas will eventually lose its ocean as it keeps losing heat due to its wonky elliptical orbit — but it still is cause for hope that things in our Solar System can defy initial observations. **More on Saturn:** [*Titan Covered With Fragments of Obliterated Moons, Scientists Say*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()