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'Titanic' Discovery: Earth-like Weather & Methane Rain
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
20 October 2000
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Search for life
Increasingly, Titan is being seen as a good place to look for extraterrestrial life. Like Jupiter's moon Europa, Titan is expected to be hiding liquid water in its belly, says Lorenz, who models geophysical processes on Titan's surface but did not work on Griffith's study.
Lorenz said Titan's surface is too cold for liquid water, the requirement for life as we know it. But deep beneath the surface, it may be warm enough to melt the ice.
And already, researchers have evidence of simple organic molecules -- similar to gasoline -- on the smoggy moon. These molecules are very far from life, but are a first step, says Lorenz.
"The one thing Titan does have on its side is all these organics, which Europa doesn't have," Lorenz told SPACE.com. "That gives it better stuff to work with to create life -- a more 'hearty' primordial soup, if you like."
Let's go see
There is no evidence that either Titan or Europa do harbor life, and scientists agree that we won't know until more research is done, most likely with a spacecraft to perform direct measurements. Answers may come as soon as 2004. The Cassini spacecraft, en route to study Saturn, its rings and moons, is scheduled to drop the Huygens probe into Titan's atmosphere.
Cassini's Huygens probe might land in a sea of methane.
The probe will take readings in the atmosphere during a 2.5-hour descent. On the surface, it is expected to survive and collect data for at least three minutes, and perhaps longer.
But a recently discovered hardware problem aboard Cassini may leave it unable to receive much of the science data the probe will collect. The European Space Agency hopes to have a plan in place to deal with the glitch by next summer.
Meanwhile, firm proof that clouds exist on Titan may depend on the Huygens probe. One researcher who studies Titan and is familiar with Griffith's study isn't entirely convinced of the findings.
"I don't think we can say for sure one way or the other at this point" whether the clouds exist, said Athena Coustenis of the Paris-Meudon Observatory. Coustenis said the results need to be confirmed by other researchers.
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