Scientists from all over the world are trying to find another Earth in the endless universe.
Researchers like Robert Zubrin have developed plans to make other planets like Mars inhabitable.
Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the second largest moon in the solar system after Jupiter’s Ganymede. Titan is about 50% larger than our own moon and is also larger than planet Mercury. Titan is also the only moon in the soar system with a dense atmosphere that is even denser than that at Earth. Considering 0.376g Gravity on Mars we can say that in this case Titan doesn’t have much for us as it is having a gravity of 0.14g. Though it is much less than that on Earth yet it is enough to keep humans on the ground.
With so much to offer for the humans still the question remains that can Titan support life...?
Studies have demonstrated that the most important and advantageous target in the solar system for colonization is Titan.
Why Titan?
Titan has an abundant supply of raw materials that are necessary for life. Robert Zubrin has also stated that Titan is the most hospitable extraterrestrial world within our solar system for colonization.
Titan’s atmosphere contains plenty of nitrogen and methane. There is also strong evidence that the liquid methane and liquid water are present under the surface of Titan which are often delivered to the surface by a volcanic activity.
This water can easily be used to generate oxygen. Water and Methane can also be easily converted into rocket fuel which can be used for a power supply. All these gases that are Methane, Nitrogen and ammonia can also be used as a fertilizer for growing food.
Moreover the atmospheric pressure of Titan is the same as five meters underwater. This will reduce the difficulty and complexity of engineering that is required for landing a craft when compared to that in case of almost zero pressure planet like Mars.
This thick atmosphere will also act as a protective shield for solar radiation which can have serious medical problems in humans.
Now let us consider the average surface temperature of Titan. Here is where we start to have some problems. Since Titan is about 1.4 billion km from sun its surface temperature is about -179-degrees Celsius. This means that we should be having effective heat generation and insulation techniques available before we try and land on Titan.
Why is Titan a much better choice than Mars?
Both Titan and Mars are thought to be the places that can be made inhabitable. But still Titan is a much better choice. The reasons for this are:
• Titan has a dense atmosphere that is about 1.5 times thicker than that on Earth. On the other hand Mars is having no atmosphere and will require extensive Teraforming processes before we get an atmosphere on it.
• Titan has abundance of life supporting materials that includes water, methane and Nitrogen. Water can be converted into oxygen and Methane can be used as a fuel for all power needs. On the other hand if we consider Mars, we are not even sure that the planet has some water, forget about all other gases.
• Since Titan has a thick atmosphere so the humans that live there will remain protected from all cosmic radiations. On the other hand the major problem on Mars is that it is not having any such atmosphere to protect life.
• Titan has an induced magnetosphere which can deflect all the harmful solar winds. But we don’t find any of it in Mars.
What are the problem areas?
Despite of the positives of the approach there are also a few problem areas that are to be dealt with, these include:
• Titan is about 1.4 billion Km from the sun. So far that the solar heat cannot reach there. This makes Titan a very cold world where the surface temperature is -179 degrees Celsius. We need to have massive heat generation and insulation systems else all humans will immediately freeze to death.
• Titan has an induced magnetosphere but is not having any of its own which can deflect all the harmful solar winds.
• Though we will remain protected from cosmic and other harmful rays on Titan still humans will be exposed to all these radiations when they are on the way to Titan which will be a pretty long journey.
Comments
Great article, but there are a few *major* errors with your analysis.
1) There is NO evidence that Titan has any water on its surface. Its temperatures are far too cold for liquid water to be present. The article you referenced in the link should have easily pointed that out.
Methane (and ethane) are the only chemicals that can remain liquid at those freezing temperatures.
2) There is no evidence that Titan has a magnetosphere (if so, a link for that would be nice). Mars does however have one, although it is very weak (recent findings have revealed pockets of this field emerging from the Martian surface).
See this link for details:
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1749.html
3) It would be easier to turn Mars into another Earth than Titan because Titan’s atmosphere block out a large portion of the sun light making it nearly impossible to grow plants. Couple that with Saturn’s distance from the Sun, and Titan looks like a very dead world. Mars we could at least build greenhouses upon to grow our food.
4) Cosmic radiation can come from more than our Sun (try black holes, other stars, neutron stars, etc.) hence the reason why you need a magnetic field. Titan’s atmosphere would only protect us so much.
Either way, it was an interesting article. However, Titan could easily be a home because of Saturn’s other moons have plenty of ice water for us to mine (Titan could easily exchange that for methane fuel).
Although I am not exactly a fan of Mars (as it still lacks any known major resources) it would be easier making that into a second Earth than any world beyond Jupiter in our solar system.
Hi Darnell, thanks for the suggestions.
Titan does not have a magnetosphere of its own, but some is induced from Saturn, around which it is orbiting. And talking about water there is plenty of evidence that Titan may have crystalline forms of water below its surface. And can be delivered to the surface after a volcanic activity. This is a much better evidence than any evidence of water on Mars.
Titan has long been a place of interest and it is the only thing in the solar system next to Mars of course, that has repeatedly raised the prospect that some habitable locales may indeed exist on Titan.
You are right Darnell>> There is NO evidence that Titan has any water on its surface.
There are lakes of liquid methane on Titan’s surface that were revealed by Cassini on July 22 last year.
Titan is a complex world in which the interaction between the inner and outer layers is controlled by processes similar to those that must have dominated the evolution of any Earth-like planet.
So, that, I guess is the origin of speculative ideas that once again force researchers to question the definition and universal needs of life, and to consider the possibility that life might evolve in very different environments.
Talk about *major* errors,.... the article keeps says ”places that can be made inhabitable”!!!! I believe the word is ”habitable”.
Hi classicalcholera, Before commenting, i think you should check out a dictionary for reference. Please check this for your queries.
This is a really cool article, you wrote it?
I work as the editor of a magazine called CRAM (www.CRAM-mag.com) and would really like to use this in an upcoming issue if possible. Check us out and let me know what you think (email: editor@cram-mag.com). Thanks!
-Tim
Even if possible to move there the costs would be huge let’s hope we will not destroy the earth.
yeah.. me too
nice share :)