A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » Policy
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Titan issues



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old October 29th 04, 10:50 PM
jjrobinson2
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Titan issues

Okay, getting all "xeno" for a moment, what would it take to have "life" on
Titan? Mean surface temperature is around -178 degrees C, at about 1.5
Earth atmospheres pressure. There would need to be something like enzymatic
activity based on the available carbon chemistry, which we don't know much
about. There's nothing like that on Earth, but there doesn't need to be.
This would have to sustain some kind of organic heat engine to power
whatever the
putative organism was, but it should only need a differential of
temperatures for that. Then it's only a small step to
sludge-farming Amazons who have never seen stars.

Setting that aside as perhaps far-fetched, there are obviously unique
organic chemical processes in the Titan environment. How much thought has
been given to the possible impact of the Huygens probe on these processes?
What is the surface temperature of the probe after atmospheric
ntry? ---And the probe will be carrying some of the unique carbon chemistry
of Earth. Could it possibly be boiling away or otherwise contaminating the
chemical processes that make Titan interesting to us?




 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Titan issues jjrobinson2 Policy 46 November 15th 04 12:30 AM
UA's Cassini Scientists Ready for First Close Titan Flyby er Amateur Astronomy 0 October 26th 04 07:14 AM
UA's Cassini Scientists Ready for First Close Titan Flyby Ron Astronomy Misc 0 October 25th 04 08:35 PM
New Detailed Images of Titan Ron Astronomy Misc 0 April 1st 04 08:05 PM
Titan 4s costly AllanStern Space Shuttle 9 February 17th 04 05:02 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:59 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2025 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.