First Detailed Geologic Map of Pluto Released

Pluto’s informally-named Sputnik Planum region is mapped, with the key 

indicating a wide variety of units or terrains. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

(context)

I highly enjoy planetary geology and today NASA and the New Horizons team released a fantastic detailed geologic map of the Sputnik Planum region on Pluto. I could seriously sit and analyze the image for hours.

While the variety is obvious to many, its exciting to see a real breakdown of the incredible variety of terrains on Pluto. It truly rivals Mars and even Earth in many ways.

One interesting aspect worth noting is how well the eastern lobe of 'The Heart' feature, is defined as a glacial boundary. It may even be resting on more SP-like terrain, now hidden under hundreds of feet of ices.

Another curiosity is with the distribution of various pitted types of plains and smooth plains. The deepest pitted area is closest to both the southern tip of Sputnik Planum and the cryovolcano, Wright Mons. I would expect a correlation to exist between one of those, but which one isn't necessarily clear.

I will be excitedly awaiting more of these types of products coming from the New Horizons team in the coming months and years. I fully expect a second mission to Pluto to make an appearance in the next decadal survey and I hope it gets the green light. In fact, if I had my way, we'd be shipping a couple Viking-like orbiter/lander reconnaissance and ground research probes by the late 2020s. But if I had my way, we'd also be sending Mariner Mark II (Cassini-like) missions to Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune all in the same time frame. Better a billion spent to learn than a billion to kill.

The Glaciation of Sputnik Planum

NASA and the New Horizons team have just issued a press release and a new image from the New Horizons mission to Pluto. The release doesn't offer much in the way of further insight but provides a wonderful view of the eastern portion of Sputnik Planum, as captured by the LORRI instrument.

Other press releases and blog entries have already been published discussing the nature and possibility for water ice to float on much denser nitrogen ice. However, this new image offers better evidence into how that process may be continuing today on Pluto. Flows of liquid can be seen streaming into the Sputnik Planum region, likely fracturing and uplifting the watery crust much like the glaciation process occurs here on Earth.This has lead to the numerous floating blocks of material littering the coasts around the region.

Growing up, I understood the solar system to be a mostly dead, inactive place, save for the swirling gasses of Venus and the giants, the small moons Io, Triton and possibly Titan, and of course Earth. There is something so spectacularly special here with Pluto to see potentially ongoing daily geologic activity. Who knows if our planet is alone in harboring life in our Solar System, but it can be said with certainty, that our planet is not alone in being alive and active, and I find that extremely satisfying.

Pluto's Hot Wax

Here is a great writeup discussing Sputnik Planum on Pluto, and the apparent glacial flows in the region. The author, Orkan Umurhan, mentions several times the similarity of SP and hot wax. I don't think I fully grasped the similarity and admittedly, I didn't seek any photos to further educate myself to his analogy.

Well, today came and I had a project which required pouring blocks of hot wax. While they were cooling, a very familiar scene appeared.

 

This has a remarkably similar appearance. For comparison, I've linked my version of the Pluto global MVIC image, which makes the convective cells more visible. What seems most interesting to me is for the darker regions to exist in the wax, liquid has to be present very near the surface. Very similarly dark regions are present on Sputnik Planum as well. The linked article above suggests that the 'liquids' present here are quite viscous. While very different substances are at play on Pluto, this simulated Sputnik Planum would suggest much less viscous liquid is necessary for the darker regions to be present. Once the surface cools enough, it becomes a much more homogenous surface in appearance and I think we see that on Sputnik Planum as well. Nonetheless, Orkan Umurhan has dedicated himself to the subject and I respectfully bow out to his much better expertise on the matter.