90% of Ceres May Be Water Ice : New NASA Research Reveals Shocking Discovery

Groundbreaking research has revealed that Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, is much icier than we thought—potentially as much as 90% covered by water-ice! This NASA-backed study challenges our understanding of Ceres, suggesting the dwarf planet could have once been an ocean world.

What’s New?

Ceres has a frozen crust made up of ice mixed with rock.
NASA's Dawn mission and Purdue University research show how Ceres' craters have remained stable, despite its icy surface.
The discovery supports the idea that Ceres may have been a muddy ocean world in its early history.
With these shocking new findings, Ceres might hold secrets about the evolution of icy bodies in our solar system, providing valuable data for future space exploration missions. The presence of ice opens the door to compare Ceres with Europa, Enceladus, and other icy moons in the outer solar system.

Why Does It Matter?

NASA's findings could change how we approach the search for alien life and subsurface oceans.
Understanding Ceres’ icy crust could help with future missions to Europa and Enceladus—two other ocean worlds!
Explore the future of space exploration and discover how these findings could impact our search for life beyond Earth.