New study suggests Saturn’s moon Titan may not have a buried ocean, as long suspected

Saturn’s giant moon Titan may not have a vast underground ocean after all.

Scientists reported Wednesday that Titan may instead have deep layers of ice and mud similar to Earth’s polar seas, which may contain pockets of melt water, where life could potentially survive and even thrive.

The team was led by NASA researchers Jet Propulsion Laboratory The decades-old notion of a buried global ocean on Titan is challenged after a fresh look at NASA observations made years ago. cassini Spacecraft around Saturn.

They emphasize that no one has found any signs of life on Titan, the solar system’s second-largest moon that spans 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) and is filled with lakes of liquid methane on its cold surface.

But the latest findings revealing a muddy, almost molten atmosphere are “strong justification for continued optimism regarding the possibility of extraterrestrial life,” said Baptist Jarnoux of the University of Washington, who participated in the study published in the journal Nature. Nature,

Whatever that form of life might be, possibly extremely microscopic, “Nature has repeatedly demonstrated creativity far greater than even the most imaginative scientists,” he said in an email.

Lead author, JPL’s Flavio Petrica, said Titan’s ocean may have frozen in the past and is currently melting, or its hydrosphere may be evolving toward freezing completely.

Computer models suggest that these layers of ice, mud, and water extend to a depth of more than 340 miles (550 kilometers). The outer ice sheet is thought to be about 100 miles (170 kilometers) deep, covering layers of mud and pools of water that may extend down to 250 miles (400 kilometers). This water can be as hot as 68 °F (20 °C).

Because Titan is tidally locked, the same side of the moon faces Saturn at all times, just like our moon. EarthSaturn’s gravitational pull is so intense that it distorts the moon’s surface, creating bulges up to 30 feet (10 meters) high when the two bodies are closest,

Through better data processing, Petricca and his team managed to measure the time between the peak gravitational pull and the rise of Titan’s surface. If the moon had a wet ocean, the impact would have been immediate, Petricca said, but a 15-hour lag was detected, indicating a dirty ice interior with pockets of liquid water. Computer modeling of Titan’s orientation in space supported his theory.

Luciano Ios of Sapienza University of Rome, whose previous studies using Cassini data hinted at a hidden ocean at Titan, is not convinced by the latest findings.

“Certainly interesting and will stimulate renewed discussion… At present, the available evidence is certainly not sufficient to exclude Titan from the family of marine worlds,” Ice said in an email.

NASA’s planned Dragonfly mission – which involves a helicopter-type probe launching to Titan later this decade – is expected to provide greater clarity on the moon’s interior. Jarnox is part of that team.

Saturn leads the list of moons in the Solar System with 274. Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is only slightly larger than Titan with a possible underground ocean. Other suspected water worlds include Saturn’s Enceladus and Jupiter’s Europa, both of which are thought to have geysers of water erupting from their frozen layers.

Launched in 1997, Cassini reached Saturn in 2004, orbited the ringed planet and flew past its moons until intentionally plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere in 2017.

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