-Life on titan: latest news and updates
Of all the trillions and trillions of planets that exist in our universe, Earth is the only
planet that sustains life.
It’s our home and has been booming with life since millions of years.
Yet the ingredients for life to occur, the complex chemical combinations associated with
the building blocks of life, and even the complex organic molecules, can all be easily
found in space.
We find them in atmospheres of gas giants and surfaces of rocky worlds, on moons of
planets and even asteroids and comets.
But we know there is a big gap between “organic molecules” and living organisms.
But the solar system is a good start.
And one such place in our solar system is Saturn’s moon, Titan, which might have all
the ingredients necessary for life.
But is there life on Titan yet or not?
When will we know more about this planet and the question of life on it?
In this video we will talk about all of that and more.
Chapter 1- Previous observations of Titan
Our search for extraterrestrial life has taken us to different places, from the thermal vents
of mars to studying exoplanets beyond our solar system.
The detection of basic physical necessities for the origins of life is common to all of
these searches: a temperature range that might be favorable to carbon-based life forms, the
existence of water, and/or molecules containing carbon and hydrogen.
When the Cassini-Huygens mission arrived in the Saturnian system in 2004, researchers
were immediately struck by the similarity between Titan - Saturn's largest moon - and
Earth.
It is shrouded in a dense atmosphere that is mostly nitrogen, like Earth's atmosphere.
It also has a methane cycle that is very similar to our planet's water cycle, with lakes and
rivers on the surface, evaporation, clouds, and precipitation.
The evidence for a subsurface ocean of salty water adds to the similarities between Titan
and Earth.
On top of this, it has a vast ocean of liquid water underneath its hydrocarbon seas and
crust of water ice and unusual minerals.
Life on Titan is a subject of much speculation.
The moon's surface is cold and hostile, with lakes of methane and ethane.
However, it is possible that life exists in the subsurface seas of Titan, in a similar
way to Earth.
Alternatively, Saturn's moon could host a unique and exotic form of life, wholly alien
to anything we have known.
Perhaps a methane-based form of life exists, or life that doesn't need water to survive.
One of the large molecules found on the moon, hydrogen cyanide, is deadly on Earth but could
possibly form cell-like membranes on Titan.
Life on Earth has been known to form in the most hostile of situations.
These organisms, also known as extremophiles, are capable of surviving in severe settings,
i.e. environments that make survival difficult, such as extreme temperature, radiation, salinity,
or pH level.
We have seen many microbial life surviving in the most extreme conditions on Earth.
So couldn’t it be that life might find a way to survive on Titan?
Chapter 2- Discovery of complex chemicals
Titan’s sand and what it is made up of is another important aspect to look for.
While the sand on Titan might not be composed of the same materials as sand on Earth, it
is still an interesting and potentially habitable environment.
The organic compounds that make up the sand could support Life as we know it, and there
is evidence that liquid methane exists on the surface.
According to a new study, a team of scientists has found evidence of a mysterious molecule
in Titan’s atmosphere that could be a precursor to more complex compounds that could indicate
possible life on Titan.
The team used the ALMA observatory to study Titan in 2016 and noticed spectra that indicated
a strange chemical fingerprint.
After searching through a database of all known molecular light signatures, they identified
it as cyclopropenylidene (C3H2).
This is a simple carbon-based compound that has never been seen in an atmosphere before.
The team’s study suggests that this molecule could be a precursor to more complex compounds
that could be an indicator of life on Titan.
C3H2 had previously been discovered in numerous locations around the galaxy, but only in clouds
of gas and dust in the interstellar medium (ISM).
Conditions in these areas are too cold and dispersed to allow for chemical reactions.
Cyclopropenylidene readily combines with other molecules in any other environment to generate
various chemical compounds.
Scientists were able to find minor levels of this chemical surrounding Titan because
they were looking at the top layers of the moon's atmosphere, where C3H2 interacts with
less other gasses.
Why this is conceivable for Saturn's biggest moon but not for any other entities in the
Solar System is unknown.
But what it may mean is perhaps more crucial.
Benzene is another closed-loop chemical discovered in Titan's atmosphere (C6H6).
Benzene was formerly assumed to be the smallest unit of ringed hydrocarbon molecules that
could exist in an environment, but that honor now definitely belongs to cyclopropenylidene.
What’s more, the cyclic structure of these molecules gives researchers an extra branch
of chemistry that may allow for the creation of DNA and RNA.
Chapter 3- the dragonfly mission
In order to investigate these compounds and presence of life on Titan, NASA has planned
a $1 billion expedition to the hazy orange moon.
In collaboration with APL, the space agency intends to launch a spacecraft that resembles
a huge quadcopter drone with two rotors through Titan's thick atmosphere.
Dragonfly is a planned space probe mission by NASA to study several regions of the Saturnian
moon, Titan.
This will be the first time a spacecraft has been sent to visit Titan since the Cassini
mission in 2004, which flew within 900 kilometers of the moon's surface.
Dragonfly is expected to launch in 2026 and land on Titan eight years later.
The Dragonfly spacecraft will resemble a large quadcopter drone with double rotors and will
be equipped with scientific instruments to study the atmosphere and surface of Titan.
The mission's ultimate goal is to solve the mystery of Titan's sand dunes and potentially
find clues about life's beginnings elsewhere in the solar system.
Another intriguing aspect that makes Titan such an appealing study topic is the likelihood
that the chemicals found on Titan's surface are the same as those that generated the building
blocks of life on Earth.
Earth was a very different planet 3.8 billion to 2.5 billion years ago (during the Archean
Eon), with an atmosphere dominated by nitrogen, CO2, methane, and water vapor.
Dragonfly would be the second aircraft to fly on another world, the first one being
ingenuity, and would be capable of flying long distances and carrying a heavy payload.
The Dragonfly mission was selected as one of three finalists for the New Frontiers program
in 2019, and is scheduled to launch in 2026.
It will use gravity assist maneuvers to build up velocity before it reaches Titan, and will
then enter the atmosphere and deploy a parachute.
It will separate from its heat shield and then release from the chute, firing up its
rotors for the first time in Titan's skies before it even reaches the ground.
The Dragonfly mission will provide important new data about the geology and atmospheric
chemistry of Saturn's moon, and will help us to better understand the potential for
life on other worlds.
Flying through another planet's atmosphere hundreds of millions of kilometers distant
presents some distinct obstacles.
However, because Titan's atmosphere is around four times the density of Earth's and gravity
is just one-seventh as powerful, flying on Titan is much simpler.
A rotorcraft on Titan requires just around 2.4 percent of the hoover power necessary
on Earth, yet the same amount of power can lift nearly 40 times more mass on Titan than
on Earth.
Although the thick air and low gravity make flying on Titan a relatively straightforward
task from an aeronautical standpoint, Dragonfly will need to function entirely on its own
while in flight.
A signal from Earth traveling at the speed of light takes roughly 70 to 90 minutes to
reach Titan, depending on the positions of Earth and Saturn, and another 70 to 90 minutes
for Dragonfly to respond.
The ability to take off and land at various locations gives the Dragonfly team a lot of
leeway in selecting scientifically interesting sites and sampling material from various regions—first
in the sand dunes and then near the edge of an impact crater called Selk crater, where
liquid water and heavy organics may have been thrust up to the surface for Dragonfly to
study.
Dragonfly will undertake reconnaissance flights to decide the next landing location after
taking scientific measurements at a specific place and charging its batteries with a radioisotope
thermoelectric generator (RTG).
A flight may be as long as 24 kilometers, with 8 kilometers to a new location, 8 kilometers
farther to scout ahead, and 8 kilometers returning to land.
These lengthier "leapfrog" flights are projected to last 30 to 40 minutes, ascending to around
13,000 feet and peaking at approximately 10 meters per second (22 miles per hour).
However, the crew may utilize Dragonfly's flying skills to "hop" to a neighboring site,
such as closer to a rocky outcrop or across to an intriguing feature.
By the end of its 2.7-year primary mission, Dragonfly is scheduled to have flown 175 kilometers
(108 miles).
After the original mission, Dragonfly might very likely be extended, and current estimates
indicate that the ship could function on the surface for around eight years.
Chapter 4- Conclusion
Perhaps the biggest discovery in planetary science of the last 20 years is that the solar
system is full of water.
Jupiter’s moon Europa has more liquid water than Earth, flowing beneath a layer of icy
crust.
Saturn’s moon Enceladus also has a subsurface ocean, which occasionally spews out in geysers
that reach tens of thousands of feet.
The large moons Ganymede and Callisto, of Jupiter, and Neptune’s mysterious Triton,
all are thought to harbor underground liquid oceans.
Even Pluto could have a kind of briny water, and an underground lake was recently discovered
on Mars.
Water is one of the key ingredients for life as we know it, so these discoveries have far-reaching
implications for the possibility of alien life in our solar system.
Life needs water and it also needs energy and chemistry.
Fortunately, there are sites where scientists may analyze the surface ice and learn more
about its composition.
Titan's higher latitudes, for example, get more precipitation, resulting in surface streams
that erode the sand away.
Beyond that, impact craters formed by things striking the surface disclose relatively fresh
ice within Titan's crust.
It's possible that life on Titan is similar to that found on Earth, hidden in the subterranean
waters, but it's also plausible that Saturn's moon is home to a whole new and unusual kind
of life.
In that case the dragonfly mission will serve as one of the most important missions in the
coming years.
Imagine being able to discover life outside Earth, even if it's microbial.
While Dragonfly scans Titan for answers, chemists on Earth will enhance the spacecraft's findings
by evaluating the countless variations of organic chemicals in quest of that elusive
leap to replicating cells.
Maybe they'll break the code before Titan comes.
No one has yet been able to create life in a bottle, but scientists are coming closer
to understanding the individual responses that might eventually lead to life.
Whether Dragonfly discovers extraterrestrial germs or contributes to the sequence of events
that generates live cells, the mission will undoubtedly reveal fresh insights into our
own planet as well as those beyond.
So what do you think about finding life in our solar system?
How would such a discovery affect humanity?
Let us know what you think in the comment section below and share the video with your
friends!