Juno Discovers Salts and Organics on Ganymede's Surface

NASA's Juno mission has discovered mineral salts and organic compounds on the surface of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. The Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) spectrometer aboard the spacecraft collected data during a close flyby, revealing the presence of hydrated sodium chloride, ammonium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, and possibly aliphatic aldehydes. These findings provide insights into the composition of Ganymede's deep ocean and its formation process. The spatial resolution of the JIRAM data was unprecedented, allowing scientists to analyze the unique spectral features of non-water-ice materials. Ganymede, the largest moon of Jupiter, has long been of interest due to its hidden internal ocean of water beneath its icy crust.