NASA announced the latest\nmission in its New Frontiers program, called Dragonfly, will explore Saturn\u2019s\nlargest moon, Titan. It\u2019s the only moon in our solar system that has an\natmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before it ended in 2017, the Cassini mission flew by\nTitan while studying Saturn. The data provided by the Hyugens probe, which was\npart of the Cassini mission, suggested that Titan was the perfect candidate for\nfurther exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the first drone lander and it can fly over 100\nmiles through Titan\u2019s thick atmosphere,\u201d said NASA Administrator Jim\nBridenstine in a statement. \u201cTitan is most comparable to early Earth.\nDragonfly\u2019s instruments will help evaluate organic chemistry and the chemical\nsignatures of past or present life. We will launch Dragonfly to explore the\nfrontiers of human knowledge for the benefit of all humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The New Frontiers program has also included the Juno\nmission to Jupiter, the New Horizons probe that visited Pluto in 2015 and\ndistant Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule on January 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ultimate goal is for Dragonfly to visit an\nimpact crater, where they believe that important ingredients for life mixed\ntogether when something hit Titan in the past, possibly tens of thousands of\nyears ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a Mars rover-sized drone, reaching about ten\nfeet long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Titan is similar chemically to Earth before life\nevolved, the agency said. They want to explore sand dunes on Titan to determine\nif they\u2019re made of the same complex organic material discovered in the\natmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the science that motivates us to do this\nexciting and difficult mission,\u201d said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA\u2019s associate\nadministrator for Science at the agency\u2019s Headquarters in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTitan has the key ingredients for life,\u201d said Lori\nGlaze, director of NASA\u2019s Planetary Science Division. \u201cIt has complex organic\nmolecules and the energy required for life. We will have the opportunity to\nobserve processes similar to what happened on early Earth when life formed and\npotentially conditions that could harbor life today. We can look for\nbiosignatures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once Dragonfly lands, it will spend two and a half\nyears flying around Titan. It only has propellers, with skids to land, but no\nwheels to allow it to roam over the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will launch in 2026, but won\u2019t reach Titan until\nthe 2034 because Saturn is so far from us. Dragonfly will also explore Titan\u2019s\natmosphere, surface properties, subsurface ocean and liquid on the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Titan isn\u2019t exactly known for being hospitable.\nLarger than both our own moon and the planet Mercury, Titan is unique in our\nsolar system. It is the only moon with clouds and a dense atmosphere of\nnitrogen and methane, which gives it a fuzzy orange appearance. Its atmospheric\npressure is 60% greater than Earth\u2019s, meaning it exerts the kind of pressure\nyou feel at the bottom of a swimming pool, according to NASA. And the surface\nof Titan is minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it would make sense that the potential for life on Titan would have to look a little different than our planet. But Titan\u2019s atmosphere may not be much different than that of primordial Earth\u2019s \u2014 and life found a way here. It may not be like the alien life in science fiction, but in 2017 researchers confirmed the presence of something that may lead to life on Titan, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vinyl cyanide is a complex organic molecule capable\nof forming cell membrane-like spheres. While it may sound toxic, this chemical\nwould be right at home on Titan, where significant quantities of it have been\ndetected through data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), a group\nof radio telescopes in Chile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Titan also has Earth-like liquid bodies on its\nsurface, but the rivers, lakes and seas are made of liquid ethane and methane,\nwhich form clouds and cause liquid gas to rain from the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The surface temperature is so cold that the rivers\nand lakes were carved out by methane, the way rocks and lava helped to form\nfeatures and channels on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These methane pools on the surface are the kind of\nenvironment that could help vinyl cyanide molecules link together to form\ncell-like membranes, not unlike the basis for organisms on Earth. \u201cThe presence\nof vinyl cyanide in an environment with liquid methane suggests the intriguing\npossibility of chemical processes that are analogous to those important for\nlife on Earth,\u201d said Maureen Palmer, lead study author and researcher at NASA\u2019s\nGoddard Space Flight Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ALMA data confirmed what previous studies and simulations, like one from Cornell University in 2015, had predicted about the potential presence of this molecule on Titan. \u201cResearchers definitively discovered the molecule, vinyl cyanide. That is our best candidate for a \u2018protocell\u2019 that might be stable and flexible in liquid methane,\u201d said Jonathan Lunine, a Cornell professor who participated in the 2015 study. \u201cThis is a step forward in understanding whether Titan\u2019s methane seas might host an exotic form of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Titan is also believed to have an internal liquid water ocean, like those on Europa, one of Jupiter\u2019s moons, and Enceladus, another of Saturn\u2019s moons. Earlier this year, NASA announced that Europa and Enceladus\u2019 oceans have some or most of the ingredients necessary for life as we know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But how does Titan compare? First of all, it\u2019s\nbigger than Europa and Enceladus. It\u2019s also entirely unique in its possession\nof a dense atmosphere, which has obscured the observations that researchers\nhave tried to make of Titan. And Titan doesn\u2019t have confirmed active geysers on\nits surface like those other moons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given its complex chemistry, it\u2019s safe to say that\nTitan isn\u2019t hospitable to humans. But it is attractive to researchers.\n\u201cSaturn\u2019s moon, Enceladus, is the place to search for life like us, life that\ndepends on \u2014 and exists in \u2014 liquid water,\u201d Lunine said. \u201cTitan, on the other\nhand, is the place to go to seek the outer limits of life \u2014 can some exotic\ntype of life begin and evolve in a truly alien environment, that of liquid\nmethane?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Titan:<\/strong> NASA announced the latest mission in its New Frontiers program, called Dragonfly, will explore Saturn\u2019s largest moon, Titan. It\u2019s the only moon in our solar system that has an atmosphere. Before it ended in 2017, the Cassini mission flew by Titan while studying Saturn. The data provided by the Hyugens probe, which was part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[68],"class_list":["post-2959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs-articles","tag-science-technology-current-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2959"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3638,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959\/revisions\/3638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTitan, the largest moon of Saturn<\/strong>, has a lot in common with Earth. It\nhas a thick, nitrogen-dense atmosphere and features like rivers, lakes,\nmountains, and, potentially volcanoes. The atmosphere of Titan is four times as\ndense as the Earth\u2019s and there\u2019s less gravity which makes it a prime location\nin the solar system to deploy a drone.
\n
\nDragonfly:<\/strong>
\nDragonfly is planned to launch in 2026 and arrive at Titan in 2034. With its\neight rotors, Dragonfly will be able to fly tens of miles in a given day. It is\npowered by a plutonium battery.
\nTwo-year mission, Dragonfly will travel hundreds of miles across the surface.\nsampling the chemistry of the moon and studying its geology and atmosphere. It\nwill also look out for signs of life.
\nThe study on Titan\u2019s methane cycle is interesting as Methane (the primary\ningredient in natural gas) actually forms clouds and rains down on the surface\nof Titan, a lot like how water rains on Earth.
\nBy studying the weather pattern on Titan, a better picture about the greater\nreaches of the cosmos, and help scientists understand what makes a planet or\nmoon habitable or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"