Posted on Feb 9, 2026
APOD: 2026 February 9 – Miranda Revisited
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Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the February 9, 2026 edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).
Miranda is one of the five major moons of the Planet Uranus (we'll leave the definitions of a major, regular, irregular, and inner moon for another day). Why is NASA so interested in the icy moons of the outer planets (like Saturn and Uranus)?
It's a math problem. To explore space, we need to bring along water. Both for consumption and (potentially) for fuel. To simply place one gallon of water into low Earth orbit, the spaceship/rocket carrying the water requires between 200 and 300 pounds of extra propellant. That requires a larger fuel tank, a larger rocket (both of which weigh more), and additional propellant to carry the additional weight of the fuel tank, rocket, and water into orbit. The math becomes even more unforgiving for a journey to the Moon, Mars, or beyond. That is why water in space is so precious, and why any strategy developed for space exploration is going to include a search for water in places we might visit along the way.
And besides that, what we know about life on Earth tells us that the presence of water suggests the possibility that something may also be alive there. A scientific and engineering "two-fer." Convenient...and necessary.
Miranda is one of the five major moons of the Planet Uranus (we'll leave the definitions of a major, regular, irregular, and inner moon for another day). Why is NASA so interested in the icy moons of the outer planets (like Saturn and Uranus)?
It's a math problem. To explore space, we need to bring along water. Both for consumption and (potentially) for fuel. To simply place one gallon of water into low Earth orbit, the spaceship/rocket carrying the water requires between 200 and 300 pounds of extra propellant. That requires a larger fuel tank, a larger rocket (both of which weigh more), and additional propellant to carry the additional weight of the fuel tank, rocket, and water into orbit. The math becomes even more unforgiving for a journey to the Moon, Mars, or beyond. That is why water in space is so precious, and why any strategy developed for space exploration is going to include a search for water in places we might visit along the way.
And besides that, what we know about life on Earth tells us that the presence of water suggests the possibility that something may also be alive there. A scientific and engineering "two-fer." Convenient...and necessary.
APOD: 2026 February 9 – Miranda Revisited
Posted from apod.nasa.gov
Space
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Astronomy
Posted 2 d ago
Responses: 4
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Water...worth its weight in Gold, and you need a lot of gold to bring it along with you. So space strip mining is in its infancy. First, you have to find it.
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price if NASA will be interested in the availability of water along exploration routes will it be academic for information gathering of the components that exist in the water or will the purpose be to supply the exploration without knowing what the components are or whether or not the water is safe?
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price
PO3 Phyllis Maynard In reverse order: Given what I remember about NASA's "safety first" culture, I will assume they'll bring the technology to ensure the water is potable. Since water can also be broken down and used as fuel/propellant, I also expect discovered water will be used to both drive and supply exploration. At some point the researchers will get ahold of any data sets that accompany the discovery of water and see how it stacks up against the other locations where water is known to exist or has been found.
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PO3 Phyllis Maynard
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price now I can understand what I have read. Thank you. :)
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