Day 48

Today, my team and I explored an area of land near Valhalla, the largest crater of Callisto. It is 600 by 300 kilometers large (scienceandsociety.com) We settled there last night and today we started exploring. We explored inside the crater and around it as well.

As my team and I explored certain areas of Callisto, we realized that Callisto has the same environment all around it. The moon is mainly craters and ice. There are large, shallow craters all around us as we walk around. Near some craters, landslides have occurred. Between two of the craters that we studied today, there was a 3.5 kilometer landslide. (www.space.com) We had to be careful not to get stuck in it. We have also uncovered some strange icy peaks. (www.abcnews.go.com) There seems to be a lot populating the moon. Callisto’s landscape is also very old, almost 4.5 billion years. So, as we navigate through Callisto, we must remember to protect the moon and walk carefully.

Although most scientists have classified Callisto as a “boring” moon, it is far from it. It is very beautiful, lighting up by reflection, just as our moon does with the sun. Because of the large impacts, Callisto has a multi-ring appearance. Its covered with “dirt ice” and a mineral that we have yet to uncover. So far, my team and I know that it is an unknown almost blackish mineral. We haven’t run many tests to identify what it could be.  Also, due to the many spacecrafts and satellites, lots of people believe that Callisto has an icy ocean beneath the surface. We haven’t discovered anything like that. However, we will not stop because we have lots of evidence pointing to the existence of this ocean.

Though our spacesuits keep us warm, there is still a chill on Callisto. (www.solarsystem.com) This may be because of these ice peaks or because of the ocean beneath the surface that we have yet to discover. During the day, the temperature outside is about -108 degrees Celsius. However, during the night, the temperature drops dramatically, about -193 degrees Celsius.  Because it’s so cold, it might take awhile before humans can permanently live on Callisto.