NASA CONTEST
From all the moons that Uranus has, Ariel has caught our attention. Despite it being the smallest, its appearance is catchier. Some of its best characteristics are the valleys on its surface and how bright it is, though it does not reflect that much. We should explore this satellite to learn more about it; for example, its valleys, how it looks when geologically active, to search or discover new components that we may need in the future.
Ariel is such an interesting moon; however, we don’t have that much information, just imagine the amount of details we could learn about it if we just send a probe. We know that the satellite was discovered by the well known astronomer William Lassel in 1840 and from the data collected so far they have only seen 4 moons out of 27, meaning that the system wasn’t strong enough to identify, describe, and observe its satellites. Until Voyager 2 was sent, who took pictures of this one. We know that the satellite is always showing one specific pole and it changes every 42 years and so do its moons. There have been more than 42 years since we last saw this moon and the probabilities of this one being geologically active and having changes are high.
We only have explored 35 percent of its surface because we haven’t given the moon a chance to show us the amazing characteristics it has and we also know that it is mostly rocky material and ice. Nowadays, with the huge amount of funds and resources provided by NASA, we can send a probe to explore it for us. We could figure out how to use Ariel's minerals taken from its surface for the creation of graphite or lepidolite. All of those reasons and more are why we should give this a try to learn more about this natural satellite.
By Ana Álvarez and
Angello Bonnet, Step 8 Yellow
