An image of Titan, Saturn’s moon, taken by NASA’s Saturn probe Cassini. /NASA
A study has found that Titan, Saturn’s largest moon and the second largest moon in the solar system, is an unsuitable environment to support life. Titan has attracted the attention of the scientific community because it has a thick atmosphere and ocean, but life is unlikely to exist.
According to Space.com, an American space media, on the 15th (local time), researchers at Western University in Ontario, Canada, recently came to this conclusion through simulation analysis. The researchers simulated how many organic molecules might actually enter Titan’s ocean, noting that for life to survive, a large amount of organic molecules must be physically capable of reaching the ocean from Earth’s surface.
Titan is a very cold planet with an average surface temperature of -179 degrees Celsius. Water freezes as hard as ice and is also called “ice satellite”. However, if you go deeper, it is estimated that there is an ocean 12 times larger than Earth’s ocean. Scientists believe a sea like this exists about 100 km inland. Not only Titan, but also Saturn’s other moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moons Europa and Ganymede have similar structures and are predicted to have the potential for life.
The researchers determined that a comet impact would have to occur for the organic molecules to be able to break through Titan’s thick layer of ice and enter the ocean. The heat generated when a collision occurs on the surface of the ice can cause a liquid full of organic molecules to flow into the depths of the ocean. However, the researchers’ simulations showed that any comet impact would not have created enough impact for the organic material to reach Titan’s oceans.
The research team estimated that only 7,500 kg of glycine, the simplest amino acid, reaches Titan’s oceans each year. Professor Catherine Nisch, who led the study, told Space.com: “This is just a drop in the ocean. Even in the most optimistic scenarios, the organic matter moving into Titan’s oceans would not be enough to support the life”.
However, this study is a simulation and several possibilities cannot be ruled out. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to launch the Dragonfly, a helicopter-type probe that will explore Titan in 2034.
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