Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is the only extraterrestrial body known to support stable liquid on its surface, in the form of seas and lakes that dot the polar regions. Many indications suggest that the liquid should be composed of a mixture of N2, CH4 and C2H6. Recent RADAR observations ...
However, when the external pressure is around 1 kbar (10 000 atm), as it is in the deepest ocean trenches on Earth, these biochemical reactions start to become significantly affected - biochemical reactions that normally result in a very slight increase in volume are inhibited. For example, ...
The entry of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft into orbit around Saturn in July 2004 marked the start of a golden era in the exploration of Titan, Saturn's giant moon. During the Prime Mission (2004–2008), ground-breaking discoveries were made by the Cassini orbiter including the equatorial dun...
Titan takes 15 days and 22 hours to complete a single orbit of Saturn. Like the Moon and many satellites that orbit the other gas giants, its rotational period is identical to its orbital period. Thus, Titan is tidally-locked and in a synchronous rotation with Saturn, which means one face...
Saturn’s hazy Titan is now on the short list of moons that likely harbor a subsurface ocean of water, based on new findings from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. As Titan travels around Saturn during its 16-day elliptical orbits, it gets rhythmically squeezed by the gravitational pull of the gi...
"the whole pattern rotates around at the same rate as the satellite titan orbits saturn, once every 16 days," nicholson said. the wave rolling along under cassini occasionally blocked the spacecraft's view. "that accounts for the fact that the gap seems to come and go," he added. this ...
The meager light that filters through illuminates one side of the balloon, making it look like a giant question mark in the sky. This is a vision that floats in the minds of scientists who study Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The Cassini spacecraft currently traveling around the Saturn ...
But what he fails to see is that we will make this his last meal. The chief Librarian has ordered the purge of this world to protect our chapters secrets. Are we to retreat with our duty unfufiled? Are we to let a black mark stain the banner of the Blood Ravens? I say that we ...
Other challenges arise once a DFD enabled probe reaches that Saturnian system however. Orbiting around the second biggest planet in the solar system is relatively easy. Transferring orbits to its largest moon is much more difficult. Solving that problem requires tackling thethree...
hugemoon,Titan. ThestudyofTitanisoneofthemajorgoalsoftheCassini-Huygens flight.Titanisverylarge--evenlargerthantheplanetsMercuryand Pluto.ScientistsareveryinterestedinTitanbecauseitistheonly knownmooninoursolarsystemtohaveanatmosphere.Planscallfor CassinitomakemorethanseventyorbitsaroundSaturn.Forty-fiveof ...