Year: 2019-20
Meer Jain & Kartik Burakia
Grade: 5
School: Bombay Scottish School
City: Powai
Topic: Triton
"After William Lassell discovered the largest moon of Neptune, Triton, me, Meer Jain and my friend, Kartik Burakia wanted to explore more about Triton. When Voyager 2 found out about Triton in 1989, and got some pictures, we thought we could learn more about Triton. Putting a camera on the spacecraft that gets a signal from the nearest satellite could gather a lot of knowledge. Through the pictures, we could learn so much about the physical characteristics of Triton. Triton is very similar to Pluto, so it can be said that they are from the same origin.
Photographs would help a lot in finding more similarities between Triton and Pluto. And if you sent a rover to Triton, it would find more about the geysers erupting nitrogen gas and the terrain which looks like the surface of a cantaloupe. And scientists will also get to know how moons and planets form because Triton has a lot of geographical traits. We would also learn if Triton is a Kuiper Belt object or not. And Triton has ‘tholins’ or methane reacting to UV rays from the sun, an organic compound that has a tar-like texture. That means there could be life on Triton because of the tholins. The rover could take samples of tholins and send them back to Earth to be analyzed and researched on.
There is a theorised surface of water that has minerals in it, and that may be the source of the ‘tholins’ on the surface. So there is a possibility that there can be life on Triton , so to find out more about that we would want to go up there and research. The rover can take pictures and send samples back to Earth. We could capture the unseen side of Triton from the camera of the satellite by making the spacecraft orbit Triton. Triton is unlike the other large moons, because of the constant depositing of organic compounds through cryovolcanism, ices evaporating and freezing again through seasonal variations, and a weather
rich, active atmosphere and this will help us more in understanding Triton.
What could we find on the unseen side of Triton?
- How is Triton similar to Pluto in ways unknown?
- Just like lava and water does Triton also store an unknown supply of oil?
- Is there any ordinary organic matter or unknown organic matter present there?
- About some geographical features. And if a human satellite could go there without
- crashing?
- Does Triton have a proper circular shape or is it irregular in shape?
We really want you to send a satellite to Triton. We think it is very interesting. Thank you for giving us a chance to participate in the competiton. We hope that you like our essay and efforts.
