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Written by spacetravel.org
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Sunday, 11 September 2005 21:56 |
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New discoveries have increased prospects that life may exist on Titan.
Titan, like the Earth, has a thick atmosphere, made up primarily of nitrogen, ample energy sources, liquid reservoirs and abundant organic molecules. Methane clouds and surface characteristics imply that there is an active methane cycle analogous to the EarthÂ’s hydrological cycle. Abundant hints of the presence of ice volcanism imply that there could be reservoirs of liquid water mixed with ammonia close to the surface.
Titan is so cold (-178 Celsius, -289 Fahrenheit) that it was believed that the chemical reactions needed for life could not happen quickly enough. However, new discoveries about extreme organisms on Earth have increased the prospects that life may exist.
A team of researchers from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and Washington State University believe organisms could use acetylene, which is abundant on Titan, in reaction with hydrogen gas, to release vast amounts of energy that could then power metabolism. David H. Grinspoon, a staff scientist in the SwRI Space Science and Engineering Division, believes that the energy released in the acetylene reaction might be used by organisms to heat their surroundings. Grinspoon believes that natural selection might favour organisms that use their metabolic heat to create their own habitable environments.
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