Mimas—A Hidden Giant

In September 2017, when the Cassini spacecraft took one last look at the ringed planet, it captured a beautiful mosaic featuring Saturn and five of its moons—one of them being Mimas, a mysterious icy satellite quietly orbiting its home planet. When comparing Mimas to Enceladus, it should also undergo tidal heating; but Mimas’s seemingly frozen surface opposes this idea. To investigate this mystery, my RPS-powered orbiter mission, named Janus (Roman God of doorways/passages), will use the VVEJGA (Venus-Venus-Earth-Jupiter Gravity Assist) trajectory to reach Saturn in 6.7 years. After Saturn orbit insertion, Janus will use spectrometers, cameras, and gravity science tools to analyze Mimas’s formation and structure for ≥4 years. This information could serve as a record of Saturn’s history (eventually, the solar system’s too), like the moon does of Earth. If Mimas did harbor a subsurface ocean, life would likely exist as microbial extremophiles, organisms that can endure harsh conditions. Similarly, I strive to show endurance in my daily life by having an outward mindset—persevering to benefit the team/project, not myself. This would help us overcome any obstacles, eventually leading to mission success. However, Janus is currently just an idea. After all, only the attainable ones become reality.