What is Minmus made of?

[robocop]

Many people have theories of what the surface of Minmus is made up of. What is yours? Show your work.

[Brotoro]

Minmus is a Small Kerbol System Body that was captured early on by the planet Kerbin. It is composed primarily of water ice surrounding a core of unknown extremely dense matter. When Minmus was young, and its crust was still in a liquid state and before it lost its thin carbon dioxide atmosphere, a species of microorganism thrived in its oceans. This microorganism secreted copious quantities of lipids, hexahydrothymol, and resins which remain in the crust of Minmus today.

This theory explains why Minmus can exist as close as it does to Kerbol: As the ice of Minmus's crust sublimes in the vacuum of space, the resin is left behind and forms a barrier to further sublimation. This theory also explains why the crust of Minmus tastes like mint ice cream, and why it is such a popular destination for spacefaring kerbals who are running low on snacks.

Edited June 29, 2013 by Brotoro

[John Nowak]

I'm guessing captured comet; Squad hasn't animated the outgassing yet. Which should be spectacular.

[Kerbol Prime]

Mint ice cream

[suzin.felipe]

My theory is that Minmus was a ice comet from a still undiscovered asteroid belt beyond the orbit of Jool.

In the early days of the Kerbin system that comet was catapulted into the inner system by a undiscovered gas giant and entered a resonant orbit with Kerbin and Mun. That orbit slowed down the comet till he was captured by Kerbin.

During the slow down period, all the ice in it's surface evaporated leaving behind a coat layer of Chlorite and salt, hence the greenish color and granulated aspect. That would also explain the irregular shape, the lake like formation, and the lack of asteroid bombardment scars as the Mun has.

I felt tempted by Brotoro's theory as life is always exciting to find, but I still think Minmus is a produce of more mechanical processes.

[MalletFace]

I was going to say something along the lines of what suzin.felipe said, but for some odd reason, I really wanted to include cesium.

[suzin.felipe]

Do we have Geiger meters in game? If we do, we can prove Malletface proposition right and work on a theory to explain were all that Cesium came from.

[deadshot462]

I believe an EVA teaser from HarvesteR had stated the lakes were frozen Methane. No idea about the rest of the moon.

[Brotoro]

Frozen methane? OK, no mental gyrations are going to come up with an excuse for THAT at Minmus' distance from Kerbol.

[Dockillar]

Scott Manley http://www.youtube.com/user/szyzyg has guessed that it is unlikely frozen water, but it could be salt, or some other materials

[AustralianFries]

I always thought it was a comet that was composed of a sort of salt.

[Justy]

I think it's kethanol. We all know that kethane won't even stay liquid, let alone solid, at the temperatures in cismunar space. But kethanol -- that's a kethane molecule where you substitute one of the propellium atoms with a propellioxide group -- has a much higher melting point and might be stable.

Or it could be frozen dodecane. Not just because it has a good freezing point (-10C), but because it has a funny name.

[FortyCaliber]

It's unlikely that it is composed of any sort of ice as it's proximity to the sun wouldn't allow it.

Given it's blue tint, It could possibly be a copper-based salt.

[FirstSecondThird]

I'd rather stick with a captured comet. I mean, anyways it would seem realistic, especially since Minmus isn't the only celestial body to be captured by another's gravity. *Ahem* I'M TALKING TO YOU GILLY. YOU TOO BOP!

[PB666]

  On 6/29/2013 at 3:42 AM, robocop said:

Many people have theories of what the surface of Minmus is made up of. What is yours? Show your work.

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Kraken excrement. Don't land to hard.

 

[mikegarrison]

No matter what it tastes like, I'm still going with "minty dessert".

[fredinno]

  On 4/3/2016 at 9:13 PM, FirstSecondThird said:

I'd rather stick with a captured comet. I mean, anyways it would seem realistic, especially since Minmus isn't the only celestial body to be captured by another's gravity. *Ahem* I'M TALKING TO YOU GILLY. YOU TOO BOP!

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Any comet would have long lost its icy layer, so the "ice" on top is not ice at all.

  On 7/4/2013 at 3:42 AM, deadshot462 said:

I believe an EVA teaser from HarvesteR had stated the lakes were frozen Methane. No idea about the rest of the moon.

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lolwut

  On 7/4/2013 at 2:41 AM, MalletFace said:

I was going to say something along the lines of what suzin.felipe said, but for some odd reason, I really wanted to include cesium.

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Good luck getting your boots burned when you step on Minnmus soil...

"That's one small step for a Kerbal, one giant leap for Kerbalkind... does anyone smell something toasting? My feet are feeling hot all of a sudden..."

  On 7/4/2013 at 2:25 AM, suzin.felipe said:

My theory is that Minmus was a ice comet from a still undiscovered asteroid belt beyond the orbit of Jool.

In the early days of the Kerbin system that comet was catapulted into the inner system by a undiscovered gas giant and entered a resonant orbit with Kerbin and Mun. That orbit slowed down the comet till he was captured by Kerbin.

During the slow down period, all the ice in it's surface evaporated leaving behind a coat layer of Chlorite and salt, hence the greenish color and granulated aspect. That would also explain the irregular shape, the lake like formation, and the lack of asteroid bombardment scars as the Mun has.

I felt tempted by Brotoro's theory as life is always exciting to find, but I still think Minmus is a produce of more mechanical processes.

Expand  

Chlorite? Why would a comet have that?

  On 6/30/2013 at 6:49 PM, John Nowak said:

I'm guessing captured comet; Squad hasn't animated the outgassing yet. Which should be spectacular.

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If it was outgassing, it would likely have gone dead long ago, and the minty-looking surface is just salt or minerals left over.

 

  On 6/29/2013 at 4:34 AM, Brotoro said:

Minmus is a Small Kerbol System Body that was captured early on by the planet Kerbin. It is composed primarily of water ice surrounding a core of unknown extremely dense matter. When Minmus was young, and its crust was still in a liquid state and before it lost its thin carbon dioxide atmosphere, a species of microorganism thrived in its oceans. This microorganism secreted copious quantities of lipids, hexahydrothymol, and resins which remain in the crust of Minmus today.

This theory explains why Minmus can exist as close as it does to Kerbol: As the ice of Minmus's crust sublimes in the vacuum of space, the resin is left behind and forms a barrier to further sublimation. This theory also explains why the crust of Minmus tastes like mint ice cream, and why it is such a popular destination for spacefaring kerbals who are running low on snacks.

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Minnmus is too small for any atmosphere anyways. Also, mint- ice cream would likely lose its water via outgassing until it was pretty much freeze-dried. So you'd be eating astronaut ice cream instead

 

 

[kerbiloid]

Probably, it's a water ice + dirt with small and diffused stone core — as almost every satellite of the Solar System outer planets.

It unlikely can be a methane because Kerbin is much closer to the Sun than a methane boiling line, but Kerbin still has polar ice caps, so giant water ice packs can be more-or-less stable here.

It unlikely can be a piece of (sea)salt because (sea)salt appears from the soluble minerals washed out with water and it's hard to imagine how such huge piece of salt could appear in the same place.

As Minmus' orbit has great inclination and eccentricity, looks that is an ice moon from the outer region of the planetary system, captured by Kerbin no long ago. (May, 17, 2012 to be exact).
That's why this ice ball yet has not vaporized and dissipated.

Indirect evidence of this is Roverdude's USI Kolonisation System. You can make water, oxidizer (i.e. LOx), LiquidFuel (i.e. LH) amd monopropellant (i.e. HTP) from its material. This can be only water from such POV.

Edited April 4, 2016 by kerbiloid

[fredinno]

  On 4/4/2016 at 6:34 AM, kerbiloid said:

 

Probably, it's a water ice + dirt with small and diffused stone core — as almost every satellite of the Solar System outer planets.

It unlikely can be a methane because Kerbin is much closer to the Sun than a methane boiling line, but Kerbin still has polar ice caps, so giant water ice packs can be more-or-less stable here.

 

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No, you don't seem to know how freezing works. Ice freezes on Kerbin since the atmospheric pressure is there. It's not stable in vaccum, so the top layer is not a volatile like water- it would evaporate at Kerbin Orbit.

 

  On 4/4/2016 at 6:34 AM, kerbiloid said:

 

It unlikely can be a piece of (sea)salt because (sea)salt appears from the soluble minerals washed out with water and it's hard to imagine how such huge piece of salt could appear in the same place.

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Probably a huge iceball melted down to its core.

  On 4/4/2016 at 6:34 AM, kerbiloid said:

 

Indirect evidence of this is Roverdude's USI Kolonisation System. You can make water, oxidizer (i.e. LOx), LiquidFuel (i.e. LH) amd monopropellant (i.e. HTP) from its material. This can be only water from such POV.

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That's a mod, and doesn't count. I can add mods with a Launch silo at KSC. Doesn't make it canon.

  On 4/4/2016 at 6:34 AM, kerbiloid said:

 

As Minmus' orbit has great inclination and eccentricity, looks that is an ice moon from the outer region of the planetary system, captured by Kerbin no long ago. (May, 17, 2012 to be exact).
That's why this ice ball yet has not vaporized and dissipated.

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Very recent captures of objects in the solar system are very uncommon. You'd have to be very lucky for that to happen.

[kerbiloid]

  On 4/4/2016 at 6:47 PM, fredinno said:

ce freezes on Kerbin since the atmospheric pressure is there. It's not stable in vaccum, so the top layer is not a volatile like water

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Yes, but its vapourization takes some time, and as the Kerbin polar caps are still alive, we can presume that Minmus' vaporization should last for decades, maybe centuries.
So, if Minmus had been captured recently, it has some time before it surrenders.

 

  On 4/4/2016 at 6:47 PM, fredinno said:

Very recent captures of objects in the solar system are very uncommon. You'd have to be very lucky for that to happen.

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Wow, what a miracle! It happened!

Edited April 4, 2016 by kerbiloid

[kiwi1960]

PIXELS...... nothing more, nothing less.

 

[-ctn-]

I always imagined it as a captured comet. I use the EVE mod to create outgassing effects.

[Dfthu]

Mint ice-cream of course! 

[r_rolo1]

  On 4/6/2016 at 5:07 PM, -ctn- said:

I always imagined it as a captured comet. I use the EVE mod to create outgassing effects.

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A perfectly circular orbit on a captured comet? Well, if you believe in that, I have a nice Eifell tower in Paris to sell you ...

Seriously, my take on this is that Minmus atleast on the surface of the flats  it is made of glass. That IMHO is the only explanation possilbe. About it's origin? Well, maybe it is a consequence of fragments coalescing  around Kerbin  after a colision with a big celestial body ( like RL Moon is acording to nowadays theories ) that formed before the Mun, that is a consequence of a later collision. Minmus started to diferentiate in layers ( like RL Moon ) but as it was so small the internal heat was not enough to do the whole work ... 

[Skorpychan]

I like the Microcline theory, but that's because Dwarf Fortress has drilled the idea into me that microcline = cyan.

Otherwise, it's a ball of chewing gum.