Titan Archives

NASA image of Titan using the Cassini VIMS (visual and infrared mapping spectrometer) instrument. One impact crater is visible near the center. The dark areas near the equator are organic-rich sand dunes, and the dark areas in the north polar region are liquid methane/ethane lakes. White clouds are also visible in the northern hemisphere. -- Credit NASA/ Cassini VIMS

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release, Saturn, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Titan Has An Insulating Methane-rich Crust Up To Six Miles Thick

by Keith CowingNovember 25, 2024November 25, 2024

Saturn’s largest moon Titan is the only place other than Earth known to have an atmosphere and liquids in the form of rivers, lakes and seas on its surface. Because […]

A schematic diagram of the sulfur cycle on the icy Galilean moons. Not all processes operate on all moons and the circles with E, G, and C indicate which processes seem to be more restricted to Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, respectively. Ice radiolysis happens on all icy surfaces and reactions of radiolytically produced H2SO4 can transform brine salts to sulfates. Only for Europa and Callisto the subsurface ocean is likely to be in contact with the rocky ocean floor but not for Ganymede, where massive dense ice layers prevents ongoing exchange of the subsurface with the silicates. The ocean compositions seem to be all quite similar in the beginning, and Ganymede’s ocean might be the oldest ur-ocean remaining since isolation by dense ice. Subsurface oceans on Europa and Callisto can evolve depending on silicate mantle outgassing into the oceans which may increase salinity over time. On Europa acidification from radiolytically produced H2SO4 may happen, which could lead to an ocean with compositional gradients and pH and development of a halocline. This diagram does not claim completeness and is an attempt to summarize observations, ideas and interpretations. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Gas Giants, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Io, Jupiter, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Neptune, Saturn, Status Report, Titan, Uranus

Sulfur in the Giant Planets, their Moons, and Extrasolar Gas Giant Planets

by Keith CowingOctober 18, 2024October 18, 2024

We review sulfur chemistry of the gas giant planets and their moons where sulfur compounds are observed. The major S-bearing gas in the upper atmospheres of the giant planets is […]

A near-true-colour image of Pluto's bluish hazes taken by New Horizons. -- SwRI/NASA

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Pluto, Status Report, Titan, Triton

Atmospheres of Solar System Moons and Pluto

by Keith CowingOctober 8, 2024October 8, 2024

The atmospheres within our Solar System can be categorized into four distinct climate regimes: “terrestrial”, “Jovian”, “condensable”, and “exosphere”.

Away Teams & Field Reports, Conferences and Meetings, Status Report, Titan, Video, Audio, Webcasts, Podcasts

What Is The Human Exploration of Titan? An ‘Explore Titan’ Webinar

by Keith CowingAugust 13, 2024August 13, 2024

August 29, 2024 5-6pm EDT

Structure and parameters of Titan’s cavity -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Status Report, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Schumann Resonances As A Tool To Constrain The Depth Of Titan’s Buried Water Ocean

by Keith CowingAugust 1, 2024August 1, 2024

Among the lines of evidence for a buried ocean on Titan is the possible detection, in 2005, by the Permittivity, Wave and Altimetry (PWA) analyzer on board the ESA Huygens […]

Contribution functions at selected wavenumbers calculated for the best-fitting models (Fig. 5) of CIRS (red lines) and TEXES (blue lines) observations. These contribution functions, which have been normalized at each wavenumber, are Jacobians that give the rate of change of spectral flux with temperature (Panel A), logarithm of C2H2 mole fraction (Panel B), and logarithm of C2HD mole fraction (Panel C). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Titan

The D/H Ratio in Titan’s Acetylene From High Spectral Resolution IRTF/TEXES Observations

by Keith CowingJuly 31, 2024July 31, 2024

We report observations of deuterated acetylene (C2HD) at 19.3 μm (519 cm−1) with the Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in July 2017.

The surface of Titan as seen by the ESA Huygens lander -- NASA/ESA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Saturn, Status Report, Titan

Titan’s Rocks Of Ice – An Interview with Christopher McKay

by Keith CowingJuly 30, 2024July 30, 2024

Huygens sent back only one picture from the surface of Titan. Some people ask, “Are there any more pictures?” They’re used to the Mars rovers, where every day you get […]

Cassini’s antenna is pointed at the predicted specular point where the angle of incidence (θi) equals the angle of reflection (θr), measured from the local vertical. Right circularly polarized (RCP) signals were transmitted, and at least one of the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas on Earth captured the echo. At the surface of Titan, a left circularly polarized (LCP) component of the echo signal was generated, requiring the presence on the ground of two receiving channels. Complex samples of each receiver output were collected at 16,000 samples/s and stored for later processing. The purpose of this figure is to illustrate the geometry of the observations and distances on the coordinate axes that are not drawn to scale. -- Nature Communications

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

New Analysis Of Cassini Data Yields Insights Into Titan’s Seas

by Keith CowingJuly 29, 2024July 29, 2024

A new study of radar experiment data from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn has yielded fresh insights related to the makeup and activity of the liquid hydrocarbon seas near the […]

Conceptual aerial robot design for Titan robotic exploration. The main body is maintained at mild temperatures (T1) while the arms are at ambient temperature T0 = −180 degrees. During flight, the pressure inside the arms (P1) is controlled and is set above P0 to adjust the flexibility of the arms, which can be actuated by a tendon system. The mission concept is that of a rotorcraft planetary lander, so the robot’s folding capability reduces hypersonic aeroshell constraints. -- cs.RO

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Titan

Away Team Droid Tech: A Novel Concept for Titan Robotic Exploration Based On Soft Morphing Aerial Robots

by Keith CowingJuly 18, 2024July 7, 2024

This work introduces a novel approach for Titan exploration based on soft morphing aerial robots leveraging the use of flexible adaptive materials. The controlled deformation of the multirotor arms, actuated […]

Away Teams & Field Reports, Enceladus, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Policy, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Status Report, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy for Missions to Icy Worlds: A Review of History, Current Scientific Knowledge, And Future Directions

by Keith CowingJune 26, 2024June 26, 2024

Recent discoveries related to the habitability and astrobiological relevance of the outer Solar System have expanded our understanding of where and how life may have originated. As a result, the […]

Titan

Titan Has An Insulating Methane-rich Crust Up To Six Miles Thick

Sulfur in the Giant Planets, their Moons, and Extrasolar Gas Giant Planets

Atmospheres of Solar System Moons and Pluto

What Is The Human Exploration of Titan? An ‘Explore Titan’ Webinar

Schumann Resonances As A Tool To Constrain The Depth Of Titan’s Buried Water Ocean

The D/H Ratio in Titan’s Acetylene From High Spectral Resolution IRTF/TEXES Observations

Titan’s Rocks Of Ice – An Interview with Christopher McKay

New Analysis Of Cassini Data Yields Insights Into Titan’s Seas

Away Team Droid Tech: A Novel Concept for Titan Robotic Exploration Based On Soft Morphing Aerial Robots

The COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy for Missions to Icy Worlds: A Review of History, Current Scientific Knowledge, And Future Directions

PJ Harvey Announces New Song “Voyager”

Fifty Years after Viking: The Promise of Solar System Microbiology and Microbial Ecology

Characterising Transiting Exoplanets At Long Orbital Period: Lessons Learned For PLATO From 10 Years Of Monitoring The HIP41378 System

Implications Of Self-consistent H2O Ice Optical Constants On Radiative Transfer Models Of Disks

The GAPS Programme at TNG LXXIV. A Reanalysis Of The Planetary Systems TOI-1272 And TOI-1694 With HARPS-N And Retraction Of The Planetary Interpretation Of TOI-1272 c