Though smaller and with lighter gravity than Earth, Titan reminds us of our own world, if perhaps reflected through a fun-house mirror. And Titan is the only other body in the solar system with rain, lakes and rivers — a whole hydrologic cycle in fact. Its flowing lakes and rivers are made of the hydrocarbons, methane and ethane.
Flowing water is not an option; Titan is nightmarishly cold, and water is essentially rock on its surface. If it does, mixing with complex chemistry on the surface could provide fuel for life. We'll be surprised more and more as we continue to extend our senses to the outer solar system and beyond. The planets and moons of our solar system, some seen in this illustration, are extroardinarily diverse. A few show signs of potential habitability. De La Torre. A recently discovered exoplanet orbits two stars and crosses the faces of both; another is in a scorchingly hot, strangely shaped orbit around its star.
NASA scientists create a scale for evaluating possible signs of life beyond Earth. NASA has turned popular posters into cool backgrounds to dress up your digital meeting background or your desktop! For anyone dreaming of an exotic vacation to worlds with double sunsets, lava seas, or destinations across our universe. Exoplanet Travel Bureau. This set of travel posters envision a day when the creativity of scientists and engineers will allow us to do things we can only dream of now.
Strange New Worlds. Explore an interactive gallery of some of the most intriguing and exotic planets discovered so far. Historic Timeline. A planetary tour through time. Like Europa, Enceladus is an ice-covered moon with a subsurface ocean of liquid water. They are clear evidence of an underground store of liquid water.
This is very strong evidence for the existence of hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, providing the chemistry needed for life and localised sources of energy. Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the only moon in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere.
It contains a thick orange haze of complex organic molecules and a methane weather system in place of water — complete with seasonal rains, dry periods and surface sand dunes created by wind. The atmosphere consists mostly of nitrogen, an important chemical element used in the construction of proteins in all known forms of life. Radar observations have detected the presence of rivers and lakes of liquid methane and ethane and possibly the presence of cryovolcanoes — volcano-like features that erupt liquid water rather than lava.
This suggests that Titan, like Europa and Enceladus, has a sub-surface reserve of liquid water. However, the bountiful chemicals available on Titan has raised speculation that lifeforms — potentially with fundamentally different chemistry to terrestrial organisms — could exist there. This article is published in collaboration with The Conversation. The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
The firm talked to the Meet the Leader podcast about its just-released report that unearths some surprising findings regarding what leaders need to meet sustainability goals. To stop global warming and achieve all 17 SDGs, urgent action is needed to reduce emissions, reverse biodiversity loss and invest in renewable energy. I accept. The most likely planets to sustain life include Mars, Europa and Titan. Take action on UpLink. Explore context. Plenty of proposals have been debated for the last several years, including several under NASA.
All are geared toward an astrobiological investigation that would look more closely for signs that Enceladus is habitable to life. But not for a long time. It has one of the most robust atmospheres for a rocky world in the solar system outside of Earth and Venus. It's teeming with different bodies of liquid: lakes, rivers, and seas. Titan is extremely rich in organic materials, so it's already rich in the raw materials needed for life.
And it may also have a subsurface ocean of water as well, though this will need to be verified. That mission launches in and will arrive at Titan in That heating is thought to help create an internal circulation system that keeps waters moving and replenishes the icy surface on a regular basis.
This means the ocean floor is interacting with the surface—which means if we want to determine whether life exists in those subsurface oceans, we may not necessarily need to go all the way down there. Scientists have found deposits of clay-like minerals associated with organic materials on Europa. And it's suspected that radiation hitting the icy surface could result in oxygen that might find its way into the subsurface oceans and be used by emerging life.
All the ingredients for life are potentially here. But the marquee mission on the books is Europa Clipper, a spacecraft that would conduct low-altitude flights that would attempt to study and characterize the surface, and investigate the subsurface environment as best it can. Clipper launches in , and will reach Europa in Mars takes the top spot for several reasons.
We know it was once habitable billions of years ago, when it had lakes and rivers of liquid water on its surface. We know it had a robust atmosphere back then to keep things warm and comfy. And we currently have a rover on the surface, Perseverance, whose express goal is to look for signs of ancient life. So what does that have to do with finding current life? Probably not on the surface, but maybe underground. There have already been a few big studies that have used radar observations to show that reservoirs of liquid water probably exist a couple kilometers below the surface.
A new simulation shows that when the DART mission hits the target asteroid, it could send it spinning and wobbling in a dramatic way. The Decadal Survey, expected at the end of September, sets the tone for a new era of space exploration.
One team of researchers wants the survey to use AI to forecast growing science fields. Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more. Thank you for submitting your email!
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