Uranus' moons might host liquid oceans with conditions ripe for life

Scientists believe that an unexplored portion of our solar system might host liquid oceans and conditions ripe for life. More and more planetary scientists have been calling for a mission to Uranus and its moons.

Till now, onlyJupiter's and Saturn's moons have been on the radar in this area, and likely possess subsurface liquid-water oceans. Jovian moon Europa and the Saturnian moon Enceladus, have been an area of interest in this regard. They are not in the "Goldilocks zone", which is the optimal distance from a star at which liquid water can exist on a world's surface.

However, they are considered ripe candidates to check for habitable conditions based on the theory that life can probably emerge inside the water bodies when heated through various mechanisms.

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In this scenario, Uranus has now also caught the attention of several scientists. Scientists point to telltale signs suggesting several Uranus moons have internal liquid oceans and chemical compositions that could be favourable to life.

Planetary scientists have talked about Uranus and its moons in a recent paper. They suggest sending spacecraft to these moons and looking for signs indicating habitability and how these worlds formed and evolved.

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"The most exciting prospect at the (Uranian) moons is that they could still host subsurface oceans at present. It is a low probability for some of them, so if the mission does find oceans in all/most of them, then it will help better understand what mechanisms help keep the interiors of these moons warm," says Julie Castillo-Rogez, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Conditions favourable for life on Uranus' moons?

When NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by the Uranian system in 1986, it collected data which was reanalysed by a team led by Castillo-Rogez in 2022. The team studied five of Uranus' largest moons — Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon and Miranda. The radius and density of these moons were studied, along with other factors, and the team found that Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon might hold internal liquid oceans between their cores and icy crust.

However, since the Uranus system is extremely far from the sun, Castillo-Rogez believes that the main source of heat for these moons "comes from the decay of radioactive elements, specifically potassium, uranium and thorium", he told Space.com.

Further, there is evidence that Miranda and Ariel witnessed geologic activity, like tectonics and ice volcanoes, 100 million to 1 billion years ago.

Experts say that a mission to Uranus can investigate the internal thermal conditions on the moons, as they play a massive role in the functioning of life. It can also learn about salinity, since if the liquid oceans are too salty, life may not be able to survive there. Life forms would also need a steady source of chemical energy since any life here would reside in the interiors to avoid radiation and be close to the water.