Abstract: | II will discuss both the motivation and also the problems associated with modeling moderate sized icy bodies in the solar system, such as icy satellites and Kuiper belt objects. Traditional thermal models suffer from several difficulties, they are not suitable to treat physical process such as compaction, differentiation, chemical alterations and other processes that may lead to changes in volume or mass. In order to treat these problems we have developeda new approach which I will describe. I will present the progress made, and briefly discuss future challenges and related space missions. |