Pandora, moon

Pandora is an inner satellite of Saturn. It was discovered in 1980 CE from photos taken by Voyager 1, and was provisionally designated S/1980 S 26. In late 1985 it was officially named after Pandora from Greek mythology. It is also designated as Saturn XVII.

Pandora is more heavily cratered than nearby Prometheus, and has at least two large craters 30 kilometers in diameter. The majority of craters on Pandora are shallow as a result of being filled with debris. Ridges and grooves are also present on moon's surface.

The orbit of Pandora is chaotic, as a consequence of a series of four 118:121 mean motion resonances with Prometheus. The most appreciable changes in their orbits occur approximately every 6.2 Terran years, when the periapsis of Pandora lines up with the apoapsis of Prometheus and the moons approach to within about 1,400 kilometers. Pandora also has a 3:2 mean-motion resonance with Mimas.



Pandora has a very low density and relatively high albedo, and is a very porous icy body. Due to this, Prometheus Gas &amp; Liquids, Inc claimed and started mining it in 2105. Today, most of it has been mined, and the moon itself has become a mainly residential area.