Anton Ermakov
Assistant Research Scientist, Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley
Title: Exploring Ceres and ice-rich bodies with geophysical data

The analysis of the Dawn’s Primary Mission data showed that Ceres is partially differentiated with a mechanically strong crust overlaying a weak, fluid-bearing mantle. Dawn’s Second Extended Mission (XM2) yielded a spatially limited but high-resolution gravity field. The XM2 data indicate that there is a radial density gradient within Ceres’ crust that is consistent with decreasing porosity with depth and/or increasing content of dense phases, such as rock and salts. Gravity data and thermal modeling imply an extensive deep brine reservoir beneath Occator crater, which could have been mobilized by the impact heating and deep fracturing associated with the Occator impact, leading to long-lived extrusion of brines and formation of the evaporite deposits. Pre-existing fractures may also provide pathways for deep brines to migrate through the crust, extending the regions affected by impacts and creating compositional heterogeneity. With its lack of tidal heating, potential origin in the outer Solar System and ice-rich crustal composition, Ceres represents an end state of an ocean world evolution. Interpretation of the Dawn gravity and shape data for Ceres sets the stage for future geophysical exploration of icy satellites in the outer Solar System.

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