Sabia Irfan and Zakia Irfan
Grade: 10
School: Colonel By Secondary School
Teacher: Mrs. Sarah Storey
City: Ottawa, Ontario
Topic: Ariel
Throughout history, scientists have scoured space for scientific discoveries to benefit. NASA is presently situated to achieve this goal by exploring Ariel, Uranus's most peculiar moon. Ariel's appearance is crustaceous, embedded with spiraling rift valleys formed by the upwelling of ice, entitling Ariel as a frosty world. In 1988, Cornell University astronomers announced that thriving in Ariel's frigidity are cryovolcanoes, ice volcanoes that emit ice volatiles of water vapor. Thus, Ariel's cryovolcanoes are mountains of ice as they are constructed from the solidified state of what they erupt. A possible ocean may lay beneath as they fabricate above their supply, and Ariel's 1.59g/cm³ density can accommodate an ocean's frozen form. Ariel's extraterrestrial ice converted to liquid and expunged of ammonia is a potential solution for Earth's water shortage.
Every moon produces heat. Likewise, Ariel's source is present yet is an unlabeled conundrum. Countless factors oppose its warmth: despite being Uranus's brightest moon, Ariel merely absorbs two-thirds of sunlight due to its neutral color, is 2,870.818 million kilometers from the Sun, and its average surface temperature is -213o Celsius. Regardless, the heat survives. The unusual warmth may be tidal heating when its orbital and rotational energy dissipates as heat or theorized primordial activity because of its status as Uranus's youngest moon. Verification of Ariel's mystery will simultaneously unravel Earth's, as one cosmological event created every celestial body.
A robotic spacecraft is ideal for validating Ariel's hydrologic and thermodynamic revelations. Contrary to humans, an automaton withstands dangers, obtains precise quantities of data, and has a Radioisotope Power System to support the lengthy journey. Arising errors will be meticulously recorded to enforce success in future paleontological experiments - learning is eternal.
Ariel's return mission would have unparalleled advancements as water coupled with heat are primary elements for sustaining life.
