NASA AND ITS CONTEST
The Voyager 2 sure gave us some clues about what’s out there close to Uranus. Do you believe that’s enough though? Our team doesn’t. We have faith that if we investigate deep enough about Uranus’ composition and its surroundings, we would make some great discoveries. The prime motive why we chose Titania over the two other alternatives, Oberon and Ariel, is because it is the largest moon of the “bulls-eye” planet, thus, it most likely holds the biggest secrets.
If you think about it, most of the planets and moons that we have knowledge of, are still unexplored, and Titania is not the exception. Some tangible intel about this moon is that its orbit isn't perfect just for 0.340 degrees and it's seasons last over 40 years.
Scientists aren’t sure about what exactly composes this moon, but they speculate it may be a combination of ice and stone, the latter could possess carbonaceous materials such as petroleum or coal. The most crucial factor of this moon is that below its skin there could possibly be an ocean, and assuming it has hydrothermal vents, there might potentially be life.
These reasons alone are more than enough for us to guarantee that this is the worthiest moon to send a probe to, and it is most definitely the best place for starting investigations on Uranus’ orbit and the bodies within it.
Humans can map just about 40% of its surface until now; with the advances that we’ve made on technology since Voyager 2 we would surely be able to map the entirety of the moon and to finally understand what is down below the surface of this extraordinary satellite, its geological processes and what secrets it keeps. Our first visit was 45 years ago, we cannot let it be the last.
By Juan Mengual and
Luis Melo, Step 9 Blue
