Selk crater Archives - Astrobiology

Artist’s impression of Dragonfly landing on Titan. Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Science Goals and Objectives for the Dragonfly Titan Rotorcraft Relocatable Lander

by Keith CowingApril 28, 2026April 28, 2026

NASA’s Dragonfly mission will send a rotorcraft lander to the surface of Titan in the mid-2030s. Dragonfly’s science themes include investigation of Titan’s prebiotic chemistry, habitability, and potential chemical biosignatures […]

Orthographic projection of ISS data (Karkoschka et al. 2017) for Selk-centered hemisphere. (dashed inset) SAR regional mosaic colored with elevation data from Corlies et al. (2017). Source: Selection and Characteristics of the Dragonfly Landing Site near Selk Crater, Titan, The Planetary Science Journal

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Titan, Tricorders & Sensors

Prebiotic Chemistry Insights for Dragonfly II: Thermodynamic Favorability of Nucleobases, Ribose, and Fatty Acids in Selk Crater on Titan

by Keith CowingApril 20, 2026April 20, 2026

Saturn’s moon Titan is a prime destination for investigating prebiotic chemistry beyond Earth, particularly at impact crater sites where transient liquid water may have enabled aqueous reactions between organic molecules.

Heat maps of amino acid percent yields at 0 ºC relative to the starting HCN inventory with 1% and 30% survival factors of initial organic inventory. Columns correspond to varying NH3 concentrations (0–10% of the total water content). Rows list the 21 amino acids evaluated. Cell shading follows a viridis scale from 0% (purple) to 100% (yellow). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Titan

Prebiotic Chemistry Insights for Dragonfly: Thermodynamics of Amino Acid Synthesis in Selk Crater on Titan

by Keith CowingNovember 14, 2025November 14, 2025

Saturnian moon Titan presents a compelling testbed for probing prebiotic chemistry beyond early Earth. Impact-generated melt pools provide transient aqueous habitats in an otherwise cryogenic environment.

Titan

Astrogeology, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Titan

Studies Of Geologic Faulting On Icy Moons Aid Exploration Of Extraterrestrial Watery Worlds

by Keith CowingNovember 7, 2023November 7, 2023

On the surface of many of the icy moons in our solar system, scientists have documented strike-slip faults, those that occur when fault walls move past one another sideways, as […]

Dragonfly

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Impact events, Missions & Hardware, Status Report, Titan

Modeling The Formation Of Selk Impact Crater On Titan: Implications For Dragonfly

by Keith CowingFebruary 22, 2023February 22, 2023

Selk crater is an ∼ 80 km diameter impact crater on the Saturnian icy satellite, Titan. Melt pools associated with impact craters like Selk provide environments where liquid water and […]