Can Titan Support Life?
Perhaps with Liquid Ethane Lakes & an Atmosphere Similar to Earth
Mars is known to contain water and other organic materials, but two moons past the Red Planet also may support primitive forms of bacteria. They are Jupiter's moon, Europa, and Saturn's moon, Titan.
What Type of Life Might We Find on Titan?
The atmosphere of Titan contains nitrogen and other hydrocarbon elements, similar to the atmosphere found on the Early earth. The surface temperature of Titan is too cool for liquid water, but t strong possibility exists that there are lakes of liquid ethane on this moon of Saturn..
A photochemical reaction methane on Titan concerts several compounds ethane, acetylene, ethylene into hydrogen cyanide when interacting with the nitrogen. Hydrogen Cyanide is an important building block of many amino acids.
Titan's Surface Temperature
The surface temperature of Titan hovers slightly above 300 degrees below zero Fahrenheit means that unless water erupts from volcanoes on the surface, lakes of liquid ethane may be the only source of nourishment for extremophiles. (Extremophiles are a class of creature that thrives on extreme conditions.)
The presence of lakes or oceans on Titan has not yet been verified. Tidal winds sweeping across the surface of the moon are known to exist. If oceans of liquid ethane do exist, it might be possible for some well protected astronaut to stand on the surface and watch the tides come in.
Probing Saturn's Moons
The Cassini-Huygens space probe continues to remain in orbit around Saturn and its moons. While it has not yet confirmed nor denied the existence of bacteria or other forms of life on Titan, the Huygens probe was sent into the atmosphere and continues to send back data.
Sources:
Burnham, Robert, “Hubble Maps Titan's Hidden Landscape,” Astronomy, 44-45 February, 1995.
Titan: Saturn VI: solarviews.com
Thraller, Michell ."Titan: Exploring the Origins of Life" in Chrisitian Science Monitor. December 12, 2002.
