NASA’s James Webb Telescope has found an undiscovered moon orbiting Uranus, the NASA Webb Mission Team announced on 19th August, with analysts conjecting that the discovery could be a financial boon to NASA’s proposed Uranus probe mission.
The moon has previously been invisible to space telescopes and even space probes, being missed by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
“This object was spotted in a series of 10 40-minute long-exposure images captured by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam),” said Maryame El Moutamid, a lead scientist in the team making the discovery at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Solar System Science and Exploration Division based in Boulder, Colorado. “It’s a small moon but a significant discovery, which is something that even NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft didn’t see during its flyby nearly 40 years ago.”
The discovery of S/2025 U1, brings the planet’s moon count to 29. The tiny satellite, estimated at just 6-10 miles (10-16 kilometres) in diameter, orbits close to the planet (about 35,000 miles from its centre) in a nearly circular path between the known moons Ophelia and Bianca.
“This discovery comes as part of Webb’s General Observer program, which allows scientists worldwide to propose investigations using the telescope’s cutting-edge instruments,” said El Moutamid. “The NIRCam instrument’s high resolution and infrared sensitivity make it especially adept at detecting faint, distant objects that were beyond the reach of previous observatories,” she said.
UOP on the up
Analysts say the discovery could add urgency to NASA’s $25.43 billion budget request and enhance risk profiles of planetary science investments. New moon discoveries around Neptune in 2024 spurred broader investment in space teach, and the findings could give political clout to NASA’s proposed Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) mission, a flagship priority in the 2023-2032 Planetary Science Decadal Survey.
The UOP mission is budgeted for around $2.15 billion, with defence giants like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman expected to be potential beneficiaries. Invigorated interest in the planet could see funding boosted to as much as earlier concept estimates of $4.2 billion. In such a case, increased venture funding for start-ups in propulsion and robotics is likely to wash down. Launch services, data analysis and sensor equipment could all see a boost.
In other news, Polymarket is yet to offer odds on the official name of the moon. Moons of Uranus are named for female Shakespearean or Alexander Pope characters: contenders could include Imogen, Cymbeline‘s princess of unwavering virtue; loyal partner Emilia from Othello; or the pragmatic Clarissa from Pope’s satirical The Rape of the Lock.
