S Largest Moon Was Shifted By Giant Asteroid Impact

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Ganymede is a Jovian moon that is larger than Mercury. It's a compelling venue for scientific (and specifically astrobiological) research because the moon is suspected to harbor an ocean of liquid water under its icy surface. But the new research affirms another interesting chapter in Ganymede's story, one posited as early as the 1980s: that about 4 billion years ago, the moon was impacted by a massive asteroid, which left arcing furrows on the moon's surface.

⁘The giant impact must have had a significant impact on the early evolution of Ganymede, but the thermal and structural effects of the impact on the interior of Ganymede have not yet been investigated at all. I believe that further research applying the internal evolution of ice moons could be carried out next,⁘ Hirata said.

Luckily, that line of research is on the docket. More than a decade since it was announced, ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission launched last year . The spacecraft r ecently swung by Earth and the Moon on its way to the Jovian system, where it is expected to arrive in 2031. JUICE will make six months of observations of Ganymede in 2034, which could shed light on the geological history of the solar system's biggest moon.

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