Recycling an Essay

I was tidying up today and found an essay I wrote for a competition a while back. I never heard anything back from it so I assume I didn't win anything! We had to chose one out of three missions for Cassini which we thought would be the most valuable. After much deliberation I chose Saturns moon Rhea and I just looked at the website and they did actually conduct a flyby which was the closest they had ever got to Rhea! They found fresh craters and further evidence of ice. I remember really enjoying writing it and I thought it was pretty good - at least better than most of my posts - so here it is! I won't be offended if you don't read it all!

We are spoilt for choice with these three fascinating targets but I believe that Rhea has the greatest potential for scientific significance.  Although it is Saturn’s second largest moon there is still so much to be discovered about this alien moon. There have been targeted flybys for Rhea previously but the last was over three years ago, in our modern world technology and scientific knowledge are growing at rates unprecedented in any other era. Therefore our capacity for understanding has increased dramatically during these three years so another flyby is long overdue. Rhea has not run out of secrets for us to discover yet.

The fact that Rhea is Saturn’s largest airless moon is surely enough to make a photograph of this moon truly magnificent but its majestic icy complexion must indisputably invoke awe in every viewer. Only this target can give full justice to the sheer power of the Cassini mission and its close range cameras.

One of Cassini’s science goals for Rhea is to determine its characteristics and geological history. This is a perfect opportunity to do so. It is believed that Rhea is composed of three quarters ice and one quarter rock, this is due to its density and its high reflectivity but more evidence is necessary to support these claims. This mission could provide the crucial evidence.

Rhea’s surface is covered in craters, more so than its sister moons Dione and Tethys. The origin of these craters could be due to tectonic activity from Rheas past or it could be due to the fact that Dionne and Tethys reach higher temperatures and so ice melted and refroze over the craters or it could even be due to bombardment of the surface. New photographs of Rhea could undoubtedly provide clues to help solve this mystery. Interestingly, Rhea has two distinctive regions in terms of crater size and photographs taken from a slightly different angle from pictures previously taken could easily complete the picture of this moons terrain.

Finally, there is the possibility that Rhea could have rings made of debris ranging from pebbles to boulders. This idea is due to the area around Rhea showing variation and simulations proving that Rhea’s gravitational field could be capable of such a feat. Unlike anything found on any other moon, the rarity of this would make the discovery all the more special. It could prove the uniqueness of this already fascinating moon or maybe even open up a new field of discovery.

Dwayne Brown and Carolina Martinez, employees of NASA in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, say that ‘These ring findings make Rhea a prime candidate for further study’. I agree with this statement and so in conclusion I believe that Rhea still holds many secrets which we must convince her to share. The prospect of a moon with rings, a moon made of ice is a moon that knows how to tantalise our human thirst for knowledge. I for one am ready!