Saturn's Moon Mimas Reveals Hidden Ocean, Expanding Search for Life

The unexpected discovery of a vast subsurface ocean on Mimas challenges assumptions about habitable conditions in the solar system.

Saturn's smallest moon, Mimas, may harbor a vast ocean beneath its icy crust, challenging previous assumptions about its geology.
The discovery was made possible by analyzing Cassini spacecraft data, revealing Mimas's unusual orbit could only be explained by the presence of a subsurface ocean.
The ocean is estimated to be 15 to 45 miles deep, making up over half of Mimas's volume, and could be as young as 2 to 25 million years old.
This finding suggests that even seemingly inactive and icy moons could support conditions necessary for life, expanding the search for extraterrestrial life.
Scientists are now considering the possibility of subsurface oceans in other unlikely places throughout the solar system, including moons of Uranus and Kuiper Belt objects.