from the extraterrestrial-white-'water'-rafting dept.
The aptly named Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is remarkably Earth-like. Its diameter is only about 40% that of our planet, but Titan's nitrogen-rich, dense atmosphere and the geological activity at the moon's surface make comparisons between the two bodies inevitable.
Aside from Earth, Titan is the only other body where we have found evidence of active erosion on a large scale. There are seas, lakes and rivers filled with liquid hydrocarbons – mainly methane and some ethane – that etch the moon's surface, in much the same way water erodes Earth's.
A striking example is Vid Flumina, the Nile-like, branching river system visible on the upper-left quadrant of the image. The river, in the moon's north polar region, flows into Ligeia Mare, a methane-rich sea that appears as a dark patch on the right side of the image.
Researchers in Italy and the US analysed Cassini radar observations from May 2013 and recently revealed that the narrow channels that branch off Vid Flumina are deep, steep-sided canyons filled with flowing hydrocarbons.
Do Titanians worry about too much oxygen in their atmosphere?
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Telemetry received during the plunge indicates that, as expected, Cassini entered Saturn's atmosphere with its thrusters firing to maintain stability, as it sent back a unique final set of science observations. Loss of contact with the Cassini spacecraft occurred at 7:55 a.m. EDT (4:55 a.m. PDT), with the signal received by NASA's Deep Space Network antenna complex in Canberra, Australia.
[...] As planned, data from eight of Cassini's science instruments was beamed back to Earth. Mission scientists will examine the spacecraft's final observations in the coming weeks for new insights about Saturn, including hints about the planet's formation and evolution, and processes occurring in its atmosphere.
[...] Cassini launched in 1997 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and arrived at Saturn in 2004. NASA extended its mission twice – first for two years, and then for seven more. The second mission extension provided dozens of flybys of the planet's icy moons, using the spacecraft's remaining rocket propellant along the way. Cassini finished its tour of the Saturn system with its Grand Finale, capped by Friday's intentional plunge into the planet to ensure Saturn's moons – particularly Enceladus, with its subsurface ocean and signs of hydrothermal activity – remain pristine for future exploration.
Farewell, Cassini: a 20 year mission to Saturn comes to a life-protecting end
During the Jovian flyby, Cassini performed scientific observations of the planet, showing that Jupiter's cloud belts were areas of "net-rising atmospheric motion."
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Previously:
Flat spots on Saturn's moon Titan may be the floors of ancient lake beds
Peculiar flat regions on Saturn's moon Titan could be the dry floors of ancient lakes and seas. The suggestion, published June 16 in Nature Communications, may solve a 20-year-old mystery [open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16663-1] [DX].
[...] "Titan is still currently the only other place in the universe that we know to have liquid on its surface, just like the Earth," says planetary scientist Jason Hofgartner of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. But the lakes and seas are concentrated near Titan's poles, not the tropics. The regions where the specular reflections show up are bafflingly dry.
[...] The researchers considered whether rainfall, dunes or dry lake beds could be responsible for the reflections, and found that only lake beds explain the timing and locations of the signals. It does rain on Titan, but not frequently enough to explain the reflections, and Titan's dune fields are in the wrong spots. And the specular reflections come from two specific regions that look like other empty lake basins near Titan's poles (SN: 4/15/19).
[...] So if the reflections come from lost lakes, where did the liquid go? One possibility is that it moved from the equator to the poles as part of a Titan-wide methane cycle (SN: 12/8/17). Another is that the liquid evaporated and was destroyed by sunlight striking Titan's atmosphere.
Related: Titan's Flooded Canyons
Tiny Waves Estimated in Titan's Hydrocarbon Lakes
Extreme Methane Rainstorms Appear to Have a Key Role in Shaping Titan's Icy Surface
Acetylene and Butane Could Form Crystals on Titan
(Score: 4, Interesting) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 21 2016, @04:26PM
So it looks like it makes sense, just comparing the geological appearance, but the numbers puzzle me a bit. Maybe the liquid's more ethane than methane, or something, but that only doubles the density.
Whatever - that's what scientific investigation and gathering more information is all about - bring on those images, Cassini - thanks NASA! (And ESA for Huygens, of course.)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @04:30PM
If manned missions didn't drain so much of NASA's budget, then perhaps we'd have a boat probe or two by now, cruising around Titan lakes.
They'd probably first take the safe routes near smooth shorelines, but take more risk as the mission progresses by exploring the more jagged coasts and approach rivers. If they get lucky, maybe they can ride rivers connecting lakes.
By the way, the Huygens lander was designed to float, if by chance it landed in liquid. But, it hit "dry" land. Plus, it could send signals for only a short time due to battery life and the path of the mother probe away from Titan.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday September 21 2016, @04:58PM
You just need to prove out one of two things and money will flow to get us to Titan as soon as the best engine can get there:
- Fishing is amazing
- The surf is out of this world
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @05:46PM
3) Oil!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday September 21 2016, @06:11PM
Good thing Titan has lakes of hydrocarbons.
I wonder what it would take to set Titan on fire.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Touché) by Username on Wednesday September 21 2016, @08:10PM
Oxygen.
Probably via hydrolysis.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Wednesday September 21 2016, @06:15PM
Well, proving hydrocarbons isn't exactly needed. It's the space-pipeline tech which needs a bit more work.
Plus sending surfers and fishermen might prevent the blue natives from launching a planet-wide counter-attack on the greedy destructive mining bastards from Earth. There a documentary about that somewhere, with cat-related life and tall human-like protagonists, by some guy named Gargamel, I think.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday September 21 2016, @06:12PM
So... radioisotope thermoelectric generator for a Titan boat? That atmosphere is a blessing and a curse.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by turgid on Wednesday September 21 2016, @09:07PM
If wars and other pointless conflicts didn't detract from NASA's budget... Unfortunately we are human and human nature will always be with us.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday September 22 2016, @03:23PM
So somewhere between https://what-if.xkcd.com/30/ [xkcd.com] and https://what-if.xkcd.com/50/ [xkcd.com] then.
(Score: 3, Funny) by jdavidb on Wednesday September 21 2016, @05:34PM
There are seas, lakes and rivers filled with liquid hydrocarbons – mainly methane and some ethane – that etch the moon's surface, in much the same way water erodes Earth's.
What, we read that and we seriously get hung up on geology? Isn't the natural reaction to invade Titan and liberate their hydrocarbons?
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday September 21 2016, @06:17PM
There are serious radiation issues on Titan ... That's proof enough of WMD malfeasance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @01:11AM
Hmm...
The gay vegan Titan mooooooslims are gonna getcha!
That should schedule a liberation any day now, right? If there were proof of gay vegan Titan moooooooslims....
Oh screw it. It's probably just populated by gayniggers.
(Score: 2, Funny) by MuadDib on Wednesday September 21 2016, @05:55PM
Just as long as we attempt no landing there, but instead use this knowledge together and in peace.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @08:38PM
I used to get so excited about Titan and Europa: finally, a place with a reasonably non-deadly atmosphere, and another one that may harbor a salty ocean.
More than a decade back, while a student in my teens, I heard the story about the biodiversity eruption during the Cambrian: exotic, spooky and mysterious "monster-like" animals like the Anomalocaris. I immediately did the extrapolation and placed in my mind's eye similar organisms under the "ices of Europa". I like art, so I tried sketching those and then did some math to scale them to the "gravity" field of Europa: "they would have to be bigger", I reasoned.
In retrospect, those years were not a waste: after all, this was part of the journey that made me able to see past this Copernican garbage, and helped me get rid of (at least) part of this constant and systematic brainwashing.
A lot of people still falls for this "space" hoax, but thankfully this is coming to an end. It will be amusing to watch the desperate last measure of NASA Circus et al. to "confirm alien life" soon- or even bow to some "alien overlords".
When this happens, bear in mind this easily proven fact: the Earth IS NOT a spinning ball, trivially proven with a telescope and a gyroscope.
Alternatively, you can keep swallowing the blue pill, and continue believing whatever you were programmed to believe.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @09:03PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @11:11AM
Oh really? Let's see.
wget " rel="url2html-10727">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg
gimp NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg
Colors > Levels... > Adjust Color Levels
Oh look: someone pasted in a picture of the "Earth".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @09:05PM
Sorry about that.
You were getting close to learning the truth so I had to replace it with that garbage you spouted. Hope you can forgive me for the unauthorized brain implant.