Life on Titan

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Multi-spectral view of Titan Titan multi spectral overlay.jpg
Multi-spectral view of Titan

Whether there is life on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is currently an open question and a topic of scientific assessment and research. Titan is far colder than Earth, but of all the places in the Solar System, Titan is the only place besides Earth known to have liquids in the form of rivers, lakes, and seas on its surface. Its thick atmosphere is chemically active and rich in carbon compounds. On the surface there are small and large bodies of both liquid methane and ethane, and it is likely that there is a layer of liquid water under its ice shell. Some scientists speculate that these liquid mixes may provide prebiotic chemistry for living cells different from those on Earth.

Contents

In June 2010, scientists analyzing data from the Cassini–Huygens mission reported anomalies in the atmosphere near the surface which could be consistent with the presence of methane-producing organisms, but may alternatively be due to non-living chemical or meteorological processes. [1] The Cassini–Huygens mission was not equipped to look directly for micro-organisms or to provide a thorough inventory of complex organic compounds.

Chemistry

Titan's consideration as an environment for the study of prebiotic chemistry or potentially exotic life stems in large part due to the diversity of the organic chemistry that occurs in its atmosphere, driven by photochemical reactions in its outer layers. The following chemicals have been detected in Titan's upper atmosphere by Cassini's mass spectrometer:

StudyMagee, 1050 kmCui, 1050 kmCui, 1077 kmWaite et al., 1000–1045 km
Density (cm−3)(3.18±0.71) x 109(4.84±0.01) x 109(2.27±0.01) x 109(3.19, 7.66) x 109
Proportions of different species
Nitrogen (96.3±0.44)%(97.8±0.2)%(97.4±0.5)%(95.5, 97.5)%
14N15N (1.08±0.06)%
Methane (2.17±0.44)%(1.78±0.01)%(2.20±0.01)%(1.32, 2.42)%
13CH4 (2.52±0.46) x 10−4
Hydrogen (3.38±0.23) x 10−3(3.72±0.01) x 10−3(3.90±0.01) x 10−3
Acetylene (3.42±0.14) x 10−4(1.68±0.01) x 10−4(1.57±0.01) x 10−4(1.02, 3.20) x 10−4
Ethylene (3.91±0.23) x 10−4(5.04±0.04) x 10−4(4.62±0.04) x 10−4(0.72, 1.02) x 10−3
Ethane (4.57±0.74) x 10−5(4.05±0.19) x 10−5(2.68±0.19) x 10−5(0.78, 1.50) x 10−5
Hydrogen cyanide (2.44±0.10) x 10−4
40Ar (1.26±0.05) x 10−5(1.25±0.02) x 10−5(1.10±0.03) x 10−5
Propyne (9.20±0.46) x 10−6(9.02±0.22) x 10−6(6.31±0.24) x 10−6(0.55, 1.31) x 10−5
Propene (2.33±0.18) x 10−6(0.69, 3.59) x 10−4
Propane (2.87±0.26) x 10−6<1.84 x 10−6<2.16e-6(3.90±0.01) x 10−6
Diacetylene (5.55±0.25) x 10−6(4.92±0.10) x 10−6(2.46±0.10) x 10−6(1.90, 6.55) x 10−6
Cyanogen (2.14±0.12) x 10−6(1.70±0.07) x 10−6(1.45±0.09) x 10−6(1.74, 6.07) x 10−6
Cyanoacetylene (1.54±0.09) x 10−6(1.43±0.06) x 10−6<8.27 x 10−7
Acrylonitrile (4.39±0.51) x 10−7<4.00 x 10−7<5.71 x 10−7
Propanenitrile (2.87±0.49) x 10−7
Benzene (2.50±0.12) x 10−6(2.42±0.05) x 10−6(3.90±0.01) x 10−7(5.5, 7.5) x 10−3
Toluene (2.51±0.95) x 10−8<8.73 x 10−8(3.90±0.01) x 10−7(0.83, 5.60) x 10−6

As mass spectrometry identifies the atomic mass of a compound but not its structure, additional research is required to identify the exact compound that has been detected. Where the compounds have been identified in the literature, their chemical formula has been replaced by their name above. The figures in Magee (2009) involve corrections for high pressure background. Other compounds believed to be indicated by the data and associated models include ammonia, polyynes, amines, ethylenimine, deuterium hydride, allene, 1,3 butadiene and any number of more complex chemicals in lower concentrations, as well as carbon dioxide and limited quantities of water vapour. [2] [3] [4]

Surface temperature

Due to its distance from the Sun, Titan is much colder than Earth. Its surface temperature is about 94 K (−179 °C, or −290 °F). At these temperatures, water ice—if present—does not melt, evaporate or sublimate, but remains solid. Because of the extreme cold and also because of lack of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, scientists such as Jonathan Lunine have viewed Titan less as a likely habitat for extraterrestrial life, than as an experiment for examining hypotheses on the conditions that prevailed prior to the appearance of life on Earth. [5] Even though the usual surface temperature on Titan is not compatible with liquid water, calculations by Lunine and others suggest that meteor strikes could create occasional "impact oases"—craters in which liquid water might persist for hundreds of years or longer, which would enable water-based organic chemistry. [6] [7] [8]

However, Lunine does not rule out life in an environment of liquid methane and ethane, and has written about what discovery of such a life form (even if very primitive) would imply about the prevalence of life in the universe. [9]

Past hypothesis about the temperature

Titan - infrared view
(November 13, 2015). PIA20016-SaturnMoon-Titan-20151113.jpg
Titan – infrared view
(November 13, 2015).

In the 1970s, astronomers found unexpectedly high levels of infrared emissions from Titan. [10] One possible explanation for this was the surface was warmer than expected, due to a greenhouse effect. Some estimates of the surface temperature even approached temperatures in the cooler regions of Earth. There was, however, another possible explanation for the infrared emissions: Titan's surface was very cold, but the upper atmosphere was heated due to absorption of ultraviolet light by molecules such as ethane, ethylene and acetylene. [10]

In September 1979, Pioneer 11, the first space probe to conduct fly-by observations of Saturn and its moons, sent data showing Titan's surface to be extremely cold by Earth standards, and much below the temperatures generally associated with planetary habitability. [11]

Future temperature

Titan may become warmer in the future. [12] Five to six billion years from now, as the Sun becomes a red giant, surface temperatures could rise to ~200 K (−70 °C), high enough for stable oceans of a water–ammonia mixture to exist on its surface. As the Sun's ultraviolet output decreases, the haze in Titan's upper atmosphere will be depleted, lessening the anti-greenhouse effect on its surface and enabling the greenhouse effect created by atmospheric methane to play a far greater role. These conditions together could create an environment agreeable to exotic forms of life, and will persist for several hundred million years. [12] This was sufficient time for simple life to evolve on Earth, although the presence of ammonia on Titan could cause the same chemical reactions to proceed more slowly. [12]

Absence of surface liquid water

The lack of liquid water on Titan's surface was cited by NASA astrobiologist Andrew Pohorille in 2009 as an argument against life there. Pohorille considers that water is important not only as the solvent used by "the only life we know" but also because its chemical properties are "uniquely suited to promote self-organization of organic matter". He has questioned whether prospects for finding life on Titan's surface are sufficient to justify the expense of a mission that would look for it. [13]

Possible subsurface liquid water

Laboratory simulations have led to the suggestion that enough organic material exists on Titan to start a chemical evolution analogous to what is thought to have started life on Earth. While the analogy assumes the presence of liquid water for longer periods than is currently observable, several hypotheses suggest that liquid water from an impact could be preserved under a frozen isolation layer. [14] It has also been proposed that ammonia oceans could exist deep below the surface; [15] [16] one model suggests an ammonia–water solution as much as 200 km deep beneath a water ice crust, conditions that, "while extreme by terrestrial standards, are such that life could indeed survive". [17] Heat transfer between the interior and upper layers would be critical in sustaining any sub-surface oceanic life. [15] Detection of microbial life on Titan would depend on its biogenic effects. For example, the atmospheric methane and nitrogen could be examined for biogenic origin. [17]

Data published in 2012 obtained from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, have strengthened evidence that Titan likely harbors a layer of liquid water under its ice shell. [18]

Formation of complex molecules

Titan is the only known natural satellite (moon) in the Solar System that has a fully developed atmosphere that consists of more than trace gases. Titan's atmosphere is thick, chemically active, and is known to be rich in organic compounds; this has led to speculation about whether chemical precursors of life may have been generated there. [19] [20] [21] The atmosphere also contains hydrogen gas, which is cycling through the atmosphere and the surface environment, and which living things comparable to Earth methanogens could combine with some of the organic compounds (such as acetylene) to obtain energy. [19] [20] [21]

Trace organic gases in Titan's atmosphere--HNC (left) and HC3N (right). Titan-SaturnMoon-Maps-TraceGases-20141022.jpg
Trace organic gases in Titan's atmosphereHNC (left) and HC3N (right).

The Miller–Urey experiment and several following experiments have shown that with an atmosphere similar to that of Titan and the addition of UV radiation, complex molecules and polymer substances like tholins can be generated. The reaction starts with dissociation of nitrogen and methane, forming hydrogen cyanide and acetylene. Further reactions have been studied extensively. [22]

In October 2010, Sarah Hörst of the University of Arizona reported finding the five nucleotide bases—building blocks of DNA and RNA—among the many compounds produced when energy was applied to a combination of gases like those in Titan's atmosphere. Hörst also found amino acids, the building blocks of protein. She said it was the first time nucleotide bases and amino acids had been found in such an experiment without liquid water being present. [23]

In April 2013, NASA reported that complex organic chemicals could arise on Titan based on studies simulating the atmosphere of Titan. [24] In June 2013, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected in the upper atmosphere of Titan. [25]

A team of researchers led by Martin Rahm suggested in 2016 that polyimine could readily function as a building block in Titan's conditions. [26] Titan's atmosphere produces significant quantities of hydrogen cyanide, which readily polymerize into forms which can capture light energy in Titan's surface conditions. As of yet, the answer to what happens with Titan's cyanide is unknown; while it is rich in the upper atmosphere where it is created, it is depleted at the surface, suggesting that there is some sort of reaction consuming it. [27]

In July 2017, Cassini scientists positively identified the presence of carbon chain anions in Titan's upper atmosphere which appeared to be involved in the production of large complex organics. [28] These highly reactive molecules were previously known to contribute to building complex organics in the Interstellar Medium, therefore highlighting a possibly universal stepping stone to producing complex organic material. [29]

In July 2017, scientists reported that acrylonitrile (C2H3CN), a chemical possibly essential for life by being related to cell membrane and vesicle structure formation, had been found on Titan. [30]

In October 2018, researchers reported low-temperature chemical pathways from simple organic compounds to complex polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) chemicals. Such chemical pathways may help explain the presence of PAHs in the low-temperature atmosphere of Titan, and may be significant pathways, in terms of the PAH world hypothesis, in producing precursors to biochemicals related to life as we know it. [31] [32]

Hypotheses

Hydrocarbons as solvents

Hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. (False-color Cassini radar image from 2006) Liquid lakes on titan.jpg
Hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. (False-color Cassini radar image from 2006)

Although all living things on Earth (including methanogens) use liquid water as a solvent, it is conceivable that life on Titan might instead use a liquid hydrocarbon, such as methane or ethane. [33] Water is a stronger solvent than hydrocarbons; [34] however, water is more chemically reactive, and can break down large organic molecules through hydrolysis. [33] A life-form whose solvent was a hydrocarbon would not face the risk of its biomolecules being destroyed in this way. [33]

Titan appears to have lakes of liquid ethane or liquid methane on its surface, as well as rivers and seas, which some scientific models suggest could support hypothetical non-water-based life. [19] [20] [21] It has been speculated that life could exist in the liquid methane and ethane that form rivers and lakes on Titan's surface, just as organisms on Earth live in water. [35] Such hypothetical creatures would take in H2 in place of O2, react it with acetylene instead of glucose, and produce methane instead of carbon dioxide. [35] By comparison, some methanogens on Earth obtain energy by reacting hydrogen with carbon dioxide, producing methane and water.

In 2005, astrobiologists Christopher McKay and Heather Smith predicted that if methanogenic life is consuming atmospheric hydrogen in sufficient volume, it will have a measurable effect on the mixing ratio in the troposphere of Titan. The effects predicted included a level of acetylene much lower than otherwise expected, as well as a reduction in the concentration of hydrogen itself. [35]

Evidence consistent with these predictions was reported in June 2010 by Darrell Strobel of Johns Hopkins University, who analysed measurements of hydrogen concentration in the upper and lower atmosphere. Strobel found that the hydrogen concentration in the upper atmosphere is so much larger than near the surface that the physics of diffusion leads to hydrogen flowing downwards at a rate of roughly 1025 molecules per second. Near the surface the downward-flowing hydrogen apparently disappears. [34] [35] [36] Another paper released the same month showed very low levels of acetylene on Titan's surface. [34]

Chris McKay agreed with Strobel that presence of life, as suggested in McKay's 2005 article, is a possible explanation for the findings about hydrogen and acetylene, but also cautioned that other explanations are currently more likely: namely the possibility that the results are due to human error, to a meteorological process, or to the presence of some mineral catalyst enabling hydrogen and acetylene to react chemically. [1] [37] He noted that such a catalyst, one effective at −178 °C (95 K), is presently unknown and would in itself be a startling discovery, though less startling than discovery of an extraterrestrial life form. [1]

The June 2010 findings gave rise to considerable media interest, including a report in the British newspaper, the Telegraph, which spoke of clues to the existence of "primitive aliens". [38]

Cell membranes

A hypothetical cell membrane capable of functioning in liquid methane was modeled in February 2015. [39] The proposed chemical base for these membranes is acrylonitrile, which has been detected on Titan. [40] Called an "azotosome" ('nitrogen body'), formed from "azoto", Greek for nitrogen, and "soma", Greek for body, it lacks the phosphorus and oxygen found in phospholipids on Earth but contains nitrogen. Despite the very different chemical structure and external environment, its properties are surprisingly similar, including autoformation of sheets, flexibility, stability, and other properties. According to computer simulations azotosomes could not form under the weather conditions found on Titan. [41]

An analysis of Cassini data, completed in 2017, confirmed substantial amounts of acrylonitrile in Titan's atmosphere. [42] [30]

Comparative habitability

In order to assess the likelihood of finding any sort of life on various planets and moons, Dirk Schulze-Makuch and other scientists have developed a planetary habitability index which takes into account factors including characteristics of the surface and atmosphere, availability of energy, solvents and organic compounds. [43] Using this index, based on data available in late 2011, the model suggests that Titan has the highest current habitability rating of any known world, other than Earth. [43]

Titan as a test case

While the Cassini–Huygens mission was not equipped to provide evidence for biosignatures or complex organics, it showed an environment on Titan that is similar, in some ways, to ones theorized for the primordial Earth. [44] Scientists think that the atmosphere of early Earth was similar in composition to the current atmosphere on Titan, with the important exception of a lack of water vapor on Titan. [45] Many hypotheses have developed that attempt to bridge the step from chemical to biological evolution.

Titan is presented as a test case for the relation between chemical reactivity and life, in a 2007 report on life's limiting conditions prepared by a committee of scientists under the United States National Research Council. The committee, chaired by John Baross, considered that "if life is an intrinsic property of chemical reactivity, life should exist on Titan. Indeed, for life not to exist on Titan, we would have to argue that life is not an intrinsic property of the reactivity of carbon-containing molecules under conditions where they are stable..." [46]

David Grinspoon, one of the scientists who in 2005 proposed that hypothetical organisms on Titan might use hydrogen and acetylene as an energy source, [47] has mentioned the Gaia hypothesis in the context of discussion about Titan life. He suggests that, just as Earth's environment and its organisms have evolved together, the same thing is likely to have happened on other worlds with life on them. In Grinspoon's view, worlds that are "geologically and meteorologically alive are much more likely to be biologically alive as well". [48]

Panspermia or independent origin

An alternate explanation for life's hypothetical existence on Titan has been proposed: if life were to be found on Titan, it could have originated from Earth in a process called panspermia. It is theorized that large asteroid and cometary impacts on Earth's surface have caused hundreds of millions of fragments of microbe-laden rock to escape Earth's gravity. Calculations indicate that a number of these would encounter many of the bodies in the Solar System, including Titan. [49] [50] On the other hand, Jonathan Lunine has argued that any living things in Titan's cryogenic hydrocarbon lakes would need to be so different chemically from Earth life that it would not be possible for one to be the ancestor of the other. [9] In Lunine's view, presence of organisms in Titan's lakes would mean a second, independent origin of life within the Solar System, implying that life has a high probability of emerging on habitable worlds throughout the cosmos. [9]

Planned and proposed missions

The proposed Titan Mare Explorer mission, a Discovery-class lander that would splash down in a lake, "would have the possibility of detecting life", according to astronomer Chris Impey of the University of Arizona. [51]

The planned Dragonfly rotorcraft mission is intended to land on solid ground and relocate many times. [52] Dragonfly will be New Frontiers program Mission #4. Its instruments will study how far prebiotic chemistry may have progressed. [53] Dragonfly will carry equipment to study the chemical composition of Titan's surface, and to sample the lower atmosphere for possible biosignatures, including hydrogen concentrations. [53]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypothetical types of biochemistry</span> Possible alternative biochemicals used by life forms

Hypothetical types of biochemistry are forms of biochemistry agreed to be scientifically viable but not proven to exist at this time. The kinds of living organisms currently known on Earth all use carbon compounds for basic structural and metabolic functions, water as a solvent, and DNA or RNA to define and control their form. If life exists on other planets or moons it may be chemically similar, though it is also possible that there are organisms with quite different chemistries – for instance, involving other classes of carbon compounds, compounds of another element, or another solvent in place of water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saturn</span> Sixth planet from the Sun

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine-and-a-half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 times more massive. Even though Saturn is nearly the size of Jupiter, Saturn has less than one-third of Jupiter's mass. Saturn orbits the Sun at a distance of 9.59 AU (1,434 million km) with an orbital period of 29.45 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titan (moon)</span> Largest moon of Saturn and second-largest moon in Solar System

Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the second-largest in the Solar System. It is the only moon known to have an atmosphere denser than the Earth's and is the only known object in space—other than Earth—on which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found. Titan is one of seven gravitationally rounded moons of Saturn and the second-most distant among them. Frequently described as a planet-like moon, Titan is 50% larger in diameter than Earth's Moon and 80% more massive. It is the second-largest moon in the Solar System after Jupiter's Ganymede and is larger than Mercury, but only 40% as massive due to the latter being composed mainly of dense iron and rock, while a large portion of Titan is less-dense ice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tholin</span> Class of molecules formed by ultraviolet irradiation of organic compounds

Tholins are a wide variety of organic compounds formed by solar ultraviolet or cosmic ray irradiation of simple carbon-containing compounds such as carbon dioxide, methane or ethane, often in combination with nitrogen or water. Tholins are disordered polymer-like materials made of repeating chains of linked subunits and complex combinations of functional groups, typically nitriles and hydrocarbons, and their degraded forms such as amines and phenyls. Tholins do not form naturally on modern-day Earth, but they are found in great abundance on the surfaces of icy bodies in the outer Solar System, and as reddish aerosols in the atmospheres of outer Solar System planets and moons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonization of Titan</span> Proposed concepts for the human colonization of Titan

Saturn's largest moon Titan is one of several candidates for possible future colonization of the outer Solar System, though protection against extreme cold is a major consideration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean world</span> Planet containing a significant amount of water or other liquid

An ocean world, ocean planet or water world is a type of planet that contains a substantial amount of water in the form of oceans, as part of its hydrosphere, either beneath the surface, as subsurface oceans, or on the surface, potentially submerging all dry land. The term ocean world is also used sometimes for astronomical bodies with an ocean composed of a different fluid or thalassogen, such as lava, ammonia or hydrocarbons. The study of extraterrestrial oceans is referred to as planetary oceanography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extraterrestrial atmosphere</span> Area of astronomical research

The study of extraterrestrial atmospheres is an active field of research, both as an aspect of astronomy and to gain insight into Earth's atmosphere. In addition to Earth, many of the other astronomical objects in the Solar System have atmospheres. These include all the giant planets, as well as Mars, Venus and Titan. Several moons and other bodies also have atmospheres, as do comets and the Sun. There is evidence that extrasolar planets can have an atmosphere. Comparisons of these atmospheres to one another and to Earth's atmosphere broaden our basic understanding of atmospheric processes such as the greenhouse effect, aerosol and cloud physics, and atmospheric chemistry and dynamics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atmosphere of Titan</span> Thick atmospheric layers of Saturns moon Titan

The atmosphere of Titan is the dense layer of gases surrounding Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Titan is the only natural satellite in the Solar System with an atmosphere that is denser than the atmosphere of Earth and is one of two moons with an atmosphere significant enough to drive weather. Titan's lower atmosphere is primarily composed of nitrogen (94.2%), methane (5.65%), and hydrogen (0.099%). There are trace amounts of other hydrocarbons, such as ethane, diacetylene, methylacetylene, acetylene, propane, PAHs and of other gases, such as cyanoacetylene, hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, cyanogen, acetonitrile, argon and helium. The isotopic study of nitrogen isotopes ratio also suggests acetonitrile may be present in quantities exceeding hydrogen cyanide and cyanoacetylene. The surface pressure is about 50% higher than on Earth at 1.5 bars which is near the triple point of methane and allows there to be gaseous methane in the atmosphere and liquid methane on the surface. The orange color as seen from space is produced by other more complex chemicals in small quantities, possibly tholins, tar-like organic precipitates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakes of Titan</span> Hydrocarbon lakes on Titan, a moon of Saturn

Lakes of liquid ethane and methane exist on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. This was confirmed by the Cassini–Huygens space probe, as had been suspected since the 1980s. The large bodies of liquid are known as maria (seas) and the small ones as lacūs (lakes).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate of Titan</span>

The climate of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is similar in many respects to that of Earth, despite having a far lower surface temperature. Its thick atmosphere, methane rain, and possible cryovolcanism create an analogue, though with different materials, to the climatic changes undergone by Earth during the far shorter year of Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ligeia Mare</span> Sea on Titan

Ligeia Mare is a lake in the north polar region of Titan, the planet Saturn's largest moon. It is the second largest body of liquid on the surface of Titan, after Kraken Mare. Larger than Lake Superior on Earth, it is mostly composed of liquid methane, with unknown but lesser components of dissolved nitrogen and ethane, as well as other organic compounds. It is located at 78° N, 249° W, and has been fully imaged by the Cassini spacecraft. Measuring roughly 420 km (260 mi) by 350 km (217 mi) across, it has a surface area of about 126,000 km2, and a shoreline over 2,000 km (1,240 mi) in length. The lake may be hydrologically connected to the larger Kraken Mare. Its namesake is Ligeia, one of the sirens in Greek mythology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titan Mare Explorer</span> Proposed spacecraft lander design

Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) is a proposed design for a lander for Saturn's moon Titan. TiME is a relatively low-cost, outer-planet mission designed to measure the organic constituents on Titan and would have performed the first nautical exploration of an extraterrestrial sea, analyze its nature and, possibly, observe its shoreline. As a Discovery-class mission it was designed to be cost-capped at US$425 million, not counting launch vehicle funding. It was proposed to NASA in 2009 by Proxemy Research as a scout-like pioneering mission, originally as part of NASA's Discovery Program. The TiME mission design reached the finalist stage during that Discovery mission selection, but was not selected, and despite attempts in the U.S. Senate failed to get earmark funding in 2013. A related Titan Submarine has also been proposed.

Planetary oceanography, also called astro-oceanography or exo-oceanography, is the study of oceans on planets and moons other than Earth. Unlike other planetary sciences like astrobiology, astrochemistry, and planetary geology, it only began after the discovery of underground oceans in Saturn's moon Titan and Jupiter's moon Europa. This field remains speculative until further missions reach the oceans beneath the rock or ice layer of the moons. There are many theories about oceans or even ocean worlds of celestial bodies in the Solar System, from oceans made of diamond in Neptune to a gigantic ocean of liquid hydrogen that may exist underneath Jupiter's surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enceladus Life Finder</span> Proposed NASA mission to a moon of Saturn

Enceladus Life Finder (ELF) is a proposed astrobiology mission concept for a NASA spacecraft intended to assess the habitability of the internal aquatic ocean of Enceladus, which is Saturn's sixth-largest moon of at least 146 total moons, and seemingly similar in chemical makeup to comets. The spaceprobe would orbit Saturn and fly through Enceladus's geyser-like plumes multiple times. It would be powered by energy supplied from solar panels on the spacecraft.

Journey to Enceladus and Titan (JET) is an astrobiology mission concept to assess the habitability potential of Enceladus and Titan, moons of Saturn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemical cycling</span>

Chemical cycling describes systems of repeated circulation of chemicals between other compounds, states and materials, and back to their original state, that occurs in space, and on many objects in space including the Earth. Active chemical cycling is known to occur in stars, many planets and natural satellites.

<i>Dragonfly</i> (Titan space probe) Future NASA mission to Titan

Dragonfly is a planned NASA mission to send a robotic rotorcraft to the surface of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. It is planned to be launched in July 2028 and arrive in 2034. It would be the first aircraft on Titan and is intended to make the first powered and fully controlled atmospheric flight on any moon, with the intention of studying prebiotic chemistry and extraterrestrial habitability. It would then use its vertical takeoffs and landings (VTOL) capability to move between exploration sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oceanus (Titan orbiter)</span>

Oceanus is a NASA/JPL orbiter mission concept proposed in 2017 for the New Frontiers mission #4, but it was not selected for development. If selected at some future opportunity, Oceanus would travel to Saturn's moon Titan to assess its habitability. Studying Titan would help understand the early Earth and exoplanets which orbit other stars. The mission is named after Oceanus, the Greek god of oceans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrie Anderson</span> American planetary scientist

Carrie Anderson is an American planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Titan</span>

The geology of Titan encompasses the geological characteristics of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Titan's density of 1.881 g/cm3 indicates that it is roughly 40–60% rock by mass, with the rest being water ice and other materials. It is differentiated into a rocky core, liquid water ocean, and an icy shell; the core and ocean may be partitioned by a layer of exotic high-pressure ices, and the icy shell may have a chemically distinct surface crust.

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