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Fluffy ice could imperil spacecraft landings on ocean moons
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2026 1 month ago
When water erupts on the ocean moons of Jupiter and Saturn, it could freeze into fluffy ice with the texture of a croissant, presenting a hazard for future lander missions.
In this sped-up, time-lapse video of a vacuum chamber, ice forms in fragile layers, like a pastry made from phyllo dough. The work shows water freezing into brittle, layered sheets 20 centimeters thick. In the low-gravity environment of Jupiter’s moon Europa, that would translate to fluffy ice several meters thick, the researchers say. On Saturn’s moon Enceladus, the ice could be as much as 20 meters thick. Spacecraft landing on the ice could crash straight through its many fragile layers.
Learn more: scim.ag/4edgIqS
FOOTAGE CREDIT: PATOČKA ET AL./EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
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