<h2>Alien Lake District</h2>
<p>By analyzing data from NASA&#8217;s Cassini spacecraft&#8217;s last flyby in 2017, scientists found that Saturn&#8217;s largest moon Titan is covered with lakes similar to those found on Earth.</p>
<p>Precipitation refills some of the lakes once they drain over time, just like on Earth, confirming a long-standing theory about the moon&#8217;s geology. But there&#8217;s one obvious difference from Earth: Titan&#8217;s lakes are filled with  liquid hydrocarbons, including methane and ethane — very much unlike the fresh water found in Lake Michigan.</p>
<h2>Titan Mesas</h2>
<p>The new information about deep, miles-across lakes provides important insight into the nature of Titan&#8217;s geology — and how its north pole compares to its southern hemisphere.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is as if you looked down on the Earth&#8217;s North Pole and could see that North America had completely different geologic setting for bodies of liquid than Asia does,&#8221; Jonathan Lunine, co-author of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0714-2">the paper</a> published in <em>Nature Astronomy</em> today, said in <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7378">a statement</a>.</p>
<h2>A Last Hurrah</h2>
<p>The scientists&#8217; theory: Titan&#8217;s lakes formed very much in a similar way that water dissolves limestone bedrock — except that chemicals dissolve a bedrock of ice and &#8220;solid organics.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;This was Cassini&#8217;s last hurrah at Titan, and it really was a feat,&#8221; Lunine said in the statement.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7378">NASA&#8217;s Cassini Reveals Surprises with Titan&#8217;s Lakes</a> [<em>Jet Propulsion Lab</em>]<strong><br />
</strong></p>
<p><strong>More on Titan:</strong> <em><a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-engineer-humans-settling-titan">NASA Engineer: Humans Should Consider Settling Saturn&#8217;s Moon Titan</a></em></p>


Precipitation refills some of the lakes once they drain over time, just like on Earth.

Saturn's moon Titan is covered in Earth-like lakes

Alien Lake District

By analyzing data from Cassini spacecraft's last flyby in 2017, scientists found that Saturn's largest moon Titan has an entire lake district.

Saturn’s Moon Titan is Covered in Earth-Like Lakes

They're not made out of the fresh water we're used to back on Earth, though.

<h2>Destination: Titan</h2>
<p>If the Earth becomes inhabitable, a NASA engineer named Janelle Wellons says we should think about settling Saturn&#8217;s moon Titan, and she has a laundry list of reasons why — including that you might be able to fly by flapping your arms.</p>
<p>&#8220;It has a thick atmosphere that could help protect us from space radiation,&#8221; Wellons <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/b1hnwz/we_are_engineers_scientists_pilots_and_project/">wrote on Reddit</a>. &#8220;It is so dense that we could actually attach wings to our arms and fly on this moon. I don&#8217;t know, it just seems like an awesome place to live.&#8221;</p>
<div>
<h2>Largest Moon</h2>
<p>Wellon&#8217;s comments came in a Reddit appearance in which NASA engineers, scientists and pilots fielded questions from the public. One Redditor asked where the team would recommend settling if conditions on Earth became untenable, and Wellons chimed in with what she said was a &#8220;more interesting answer than the standard Mars or Moon response.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;How about we consider one of the water worlds in our solar system — Titan,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;Titan is the largest moon of Saturn, larger than the planet Mercury even, so I think we could settle with plenty room.&#8221;</p>
</div>
<h2>Swim Good</h2>
<p>In spite of Wellon&#8217;s enthusiasm, there are definite downsides to Titan. It only gets about <a href="https://www.space.com/7103-titan-world-earth.html">one percent</a> of the sunlight Earth does, and <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20020/titan-temperature-lag-maps-animation">according to NASA&#8217;s research</a> its maximum temperature is a wintry -292 degrees Fahrenheit.</p>
<p>But Wellon is still a fan.</p>
<p>&#8220;Now as for the conditions on the surface — not as rough as you may think,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;Titan is the only place besides Earth known to have liquids in the form of lakes and seas on its surface. These liquids are made of methane but, armed with the right kind of protective gear, one could theoretically be able to swim without harm!&#8221;</p>
<div>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-engineer-looks-to-saturn-moon-titan-for-human-colony/">NASA engineer looks to Saturn moon Titan for human colony</a> [<em>CNET</em>]</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><strong>More on Titan:</strong> <a href="https://futurism.com/titan-more-common-earth-thought">Titan Has Even More in Common With Earth Than We Thought</a></p>
</div>


"It has a thick atmosphere that could help protect us from space radiation."

NASA engineer: humans should consider settling Saturn's moon Titan

Moon Beam

If the Earth becomes inhabitable, a NASA engineer named Janelle Wellons says we should think about settling Saturn's moon Titan.

NASA Engineer: Humans Should Consider Settling Saturn’s Moon Titan

On Titan "we could actually attach wings to our arms and fly," says NASA researcher.

<h2>A Close-Up View</h2>
<p>We got our best glimpse of Saturn&#8217;s largest moon Titan when European Space Agency&#8217;s Huygen probe was successfully dropped off on its surface by NASA&#8217;s Cassini spacecraft on January 14, 2005 — the farthest ever landing from Earth of a spacecraft. But the probe ran out of battery power in only a couple of hours.</p>
<h2>Mission Dragonfly</h2>
<p>A team of  scientists at Johns Hopkins University&#8217;s Applied Physics Laboratory have been itching to get back to Saturn&#8217;s hazy moon. But this time, rather than sending a stationary probe, the team wants to send a drone that could explore the moon from above its surface — but well below its thick, and nitrogen-rich atmosphere.</p>
<p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t know how Titan worked as a system before Cassini got there. We had tantalizing hints, but Cassini and Huygens really took it from [being] this mysterious moon to [being] a place that is incredibly familiar,&#8221; principal investigator for Dragonfly and scientist at Johns Hopkins University Elizabeth Turtle <a href="https://www.space.com/43010-dragonfly-mission-would-put-a-drone-on-titan.html">told</a> <em>Space.com</em>.</p>
<p>The mission called <a href="http://dragonfly.jhuapl.edu/">Dragonfly</a> could eventually explore the most <a href="https://www.space.com/36598-dragonfly-quadcopter-saturn-moon-titan-explorer.html">promising, and potentially habitable sites</a> on Titan. Scientists are planning to take advantage  of the moon&#8217;s low gravity, and thick atmosphere to visit multiple sites with the drone.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OMtggK10nv0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<h2>Crossing Fingers</h2>
<p>And the proposed mission might actually take shape — that is, if NASA chooses it over a different finalist proposal later this year. NASA <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invests-in-concept-development-for-missions-to-comet-saturn-moon-titan">chose the two finalist concepts</a> including Dragonfly for its next mid-2020s mission back in December 2017.</p>
<p>The team behind Dragonfly submitted a more detailed concept back in December of last year, and are expecting a decision from NASA in the summer, <em>Space.com</em> reports. If chosen this year, the Dragonfly mission would launch around the year 2025 to arrive at Titan nine long years later.</p>
<p>And they&#8217;re hopeful. &#8220;Not only is this an incredibly exciting concept with amazing, compelling science, but also, it is doable — it&#8217;s feasible from an engineering standpoint,&#8221; Melissa Trainer, Dragonfly&#8217;s deputy principal investigator, and scientist at NASA <a href="https://www.space.com/43010-dragonfly-mission-would-put-a-drone-on-titan.html">told</a> <em>Space.com</em>.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="https://www.space.com/43010-dragonfly-mission-would-put-a-drone-on-titan.html">NASA May Decide This Year to Land a Drone on Saturn&#8217;s Moon Titan</a> [<em>Space.com</em>]</p>
<p><em><strong>More on Dragonfly: <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-seriously-considering-sending-dragonfly-drone-alien-world">NASA Is Considering Sending a &#8220;Dragonfly&#8221; Drone to an Alien World</a></strong></em></p>


Titan is about 870 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) away.

A team of scientists want to land a drone on Saturn's largest moon

Moon Drone

Later this year, NASA might decide to fund a Johns Hopkins University mission that would send a drone to Saturn's largest moon Titan.

A Team of Scientists Want to Land a Drone on Saturn’s Largest Moon

And NASA could decide to fund the mission this summer.

<h2>Team Titan</h2>
<p>Saturn&#8217;s largest moon, <a href="https://futurism.com/titan-more-common-earth-thought" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Titan</a>, is weird. Really weird. Its <a href="https://www.space.com/15257-titan-saturn-largest-moon-facts-discovery-sdcmp.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">atmosphere</a> is unlike that of any other moon in our entire solar system — in fact, it&#8217;s a lot like what scientists believe Earth&#8217;s was like during its first billion years.</p>
<p>Titan&#8217;s atmosphere also includes organic compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), precursors to the molecules that gave rise to life on Earth. Previously, we thought they could only form under high-temperature conditions. But the average surface temperature on Titan is a frigid -179 degrees Celsius (-290 degrees Fahrenheit).</p>
<p>Now, researchers think they&#8217;ve found the &#8220;missing link&#8221; that explains how Titan&#8217;s atmosphere could include these compounds. The knowledge could better our understanding of our own planet&#8217;s infancy and provide new clues in the search for extraterrestrial life.</p>
<h2>Early Earth</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0585-y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> published Monday in the journal <em>Nature Astronomy</em>, U.S. and Russian researchers show how gases already known to exist on Titan could have combined to produce PAHs. They did this using a combination of computer simulations and practical experiments.</p>
<p>The finding isn&#8217;t remarkable simply because it teaches us something new about Titan — it could also help us better understand Earth&#8217;s history.</p>
<p>&#8220;The gas make up of Titan is similar to prebiotic Earth — hydrocarbons and nitrogen and the absence of oxygen — hence, scientists are keen to see how chemistry is evolving or has evolved on Titan to provide clues to Earth&#8217;s atmospheric content,&#8221; Berkeley researcher and study author Musahid Ahmed told Futurism.</p>
<p>The better we can understand the conditions that led to the formation of the Earth as we know it, the better equipped we&#8217;ll be to figure out exactly what conditions are necessary for the formation of life — and where we might want to look for it elsewhere in the universe.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE:</strong> <a href="http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2018/10/08/new-clues-chemistry-mystery-titans-atmospheric-haze/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scientists Present New Clues to Cut Through the Mystery of Titan&#8217;s Atmospheric Haze</a> [Berkeley Lab]</p>
<p><strong><em>More on Titan: <a href="https://futurism.com/titan-more-common-earth-thought" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Titan Has Even More in Common With Earth Than We Thought</a></em></strong></p>


And it could help us better understand Earth.

Researchers identify the “missing link” in the chemistry of Saturn’s largest moon

Mystery Solved

Researchers believe they now understand how Saturn's moon Titan's atmosphere could have become home to a certain type of compound.

Researchers Identify the “Missing Link” in the Chemistry of Saturn’s Largest Moon

One of the weirdest moons in our solar system is now a little less weird.

<p>When we think about where life might exist in our solar system, Mars typically gets called to mind first. Neptune? Who cares. Saturn? Come on. The moons of other planets, for the most part, barely get a blip.</p>
<p>And yet: There&#8217;s a moon orbiting Saturn that&#8217;s simply <em>brimming</em> with seas and lakes. And where there&#8217;s water, there&#8217;s often life. Titan is the only place in our solar system where we&#8217;ve <a href="https://futurism.com/titan-more-common-earth-thought/">found surface liquids</a> (thanks for the data <a href="https://futurism.com/its-official-cassini-just-completed-its-death-dive-into-saturn/">Cassini, RIP</a>). That makes NASA think it&#8217;s a great place to look for extraterrestrial life.</p>
<p>While this might sound promising, some elements of Titan&#8217;s makeup aren&#8217;t exactly conducive for us to go there and find life. The rivers and lakes on Titan&#8217;s surface, for example, also carry a lethal mixture of methane and ethane — not exactly something we&#8217;d want to dive into headfirst.</p>
<p>That is, at least without the right equipment. NASA might be taking on the task. The agency is considering sending a craft the 1.4 billion kilometers (886 million miles) to Titan <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/12/nasa-picks-missions-titan-and-comet-finalists-billion-dollar-mission">in 2025,</a> and it needs a submarine to plunge into its noxious seas.</p>
<p>Researchers from <a href="https://wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a> are helping NASA navigate some <em>very </em>uncharted waters. <a href="https://news.wsu.edu/2018/02/07/wsu-builds-nasa-alien-ocean/">The team announced</a> it will simulate Titan&#8217;s hydrocarbon seas in a test chamber here on Earth. Inside the super-cold chamber, there will be methane-ethane rain and snow, which the researchers will observe via a tiny camera. That footage will hopefully give them enough information to complete their other task: to engineer an autonomous submarine that could roam the moon&#8217;s liquid surface.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NnKxbdpLP5E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>But, as you might have guessed by now, developing a sub that can withstand Titan&#8217;s harsh environment isn&#8217;t a small ask. There&#8217;s a whole host of hurdles researchers will have to overcome to get there first.</p>
<p>These are a few of the most challenging:</p>
<p><strong>It&#8217;s cold. Very, very cold. </strong>That methane-infused water? It flows at somewhere around -179° C (-290° F). Unlike on Earth, where rivers are shaped by rock and lava, <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/saturn-moons/titan/in-depth/">Titan&#8217;s water is sold cold that it itself alters</a> the moon&#8217;s surface, and can fill entire lakes with liquid natural gas.</p>
<p>But there&#8217;s a sliver of good news: the Washington State University team determined that due to a small amount of nitrogen the lakes freeze at lower temperatures than the surface water, -198° C (-324° F). “That’s a big deal,’’ Ian Richardson, former graduate student in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at WSU, said <a href="https://news.wsu.edu/2018/02/07/wsu-builds-nasa-alien-ocean/">in a press release</a>. “That means you don’t have to worry about icebergs.”</p>
<p>No replay of the Titanic on Titan, it would seem.</p>
<p><strong>&#8230;But the submarine won&#8217;t be. </strong>And the heat is a real problem. To figure out how generated heat would affect Titan&#8217;s liquid oceans, the WSU team plopped a two-inch heater into its test chamber simulating Titan&#8217;s seas. If the thing is too hot, nitrogen bubbles form, which would mess up the sub&#8217;s trajectories on Titan and it could float or sink. So scientists will have to develop a ballast system that reacts fast enough for the submarine to remain stable.</p>
<p><strong>Pics or it didn&#8217;t happen. </strong>This may have happened to you before: You hit the ski slopes with a fully-charged cell phone. Suddenly, your iPhone battery&#8217;s shot. Now imagine trying to get a camera to work at -179° C. In the test chamber, the researchers managed to film rain and snow made of ethane and methane by using a borescope (a rigid tube with an eyepiece at one end) and camera that could withstand these extreme temperatures. But recreating these results on Titan isn&#8217;t guaranteed.</p>
<p>The team has many challenges ahead of it. Communicating with the submarine would be <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/exploring-the-depths-of-titan-s-seas">nearly impossible</a> if it were submerged. Scheduling a trip to Titan without getting lost, burning up in Titan&#8217;s atmosphere as the spacecraft descends without completely destroying the submarine would each be a massive feats alone. And we&#8217;d need all that to go off without a hitch on a hypothetical mission — but hey, progress is progress.</p>
<p>If Titanians exist, well, hopefully we&#8217;ll see them soon.</p>


NASA is testing a space submarine to use in Titan's seas

Off World

Researchers are intrigued by the presence of seas and lakes on Titan. So why not try to build a submarine to explore them once we get there?

NASA is Testing a Space Submarine to Use in Titan's Seas

We all live on a Titan submarine.

NASA’s Testing a Space Submarine to Use in Titan’s Seas. It Will Be Cool. It Won’t Be Easy.

<h2>Mapping Titan</h2>
<p>After years of sorting through data from the legendary Cassini mission, researchers from Cornell University have finally created a full map of the surface of Saturn&#8217;s largest moon, Titan. Researchers have used the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL075518/full">new topographical map</a> to discover something about the moon that makes it more Earth-like than we could have ever imagined: <a href="https://gizmodo.com/saturns-fascinating-moon-titan-has-yet-another-thing-in-1822203437" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Titan has a global sea level</a>.</p>
<p>Ever since Cassini gave us our first up-close look at the moon, scientists have used images from Cassini to explore its similarities to Earth. Previously, researchers had confirmed the presence of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL075468/full">hydrocarbon oceans</a> on the moon&#8217;s surface, but according to the new analysis, these oceans have a common equipotential surface (or sea level) — just as oceans do on Earth.</p>
<p>Both studies have been published in the journal <i>Geophysical Research Letters</i>.</p>
<figure id="attachment_119491" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-119491 size-infographicListing" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2018/01/methane-sea-600x600.jpg" alt="Cassini spots a methane sea on Titan. Image Credit: NASA" width="600" height="600" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Cassini spots a methane sea on Titan. Image Credit: NASA</figcaption></figure>
<p>The finding is remarkable enough on its own, but it&#8217;s also incredible to think we were able to make such an observation about a moon that&#8217;s 930 million miles away from the sun. In an<a href="http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/01/saturns-moon-titan-sports-earth-features" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> interview with </a><a href="http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/01/saturns-moon-titan-sports-earth-features" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the</a><i><a href="http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/01/saturns-moon-titan-sports-earth-features" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Cornell Chronicle</a></i>, Cornell astronomer Alex Hayes put that achievement in context, saying &#8220;We&#8217;re measuring the elevation of a liquid surface on another body 10 astronomical units away from the Sun to an accuracy of roughly 40 centimetres.&#8221;</p>
<p>Additionally, Hayes believes it&#8217;s possible that the hydrocarbon lakes on Titan are flowing and communicating with one another on the subsurface level — which would suggest that there could be even more liquid hydrocarbon on Titan than previously thought.</p>
<h2>Titan v. Europa</h2>
<p>Titan is not the only moon in the Solar System with Earth-like qualities. Observations of Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, have led some to believe it <a href="http://www.techtimes.com/articles/159182/20160518/where-might-alien-life-be-hiding-europa-or-titan.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could potentially hold extraterrestrial life</a>. <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-is-sending-a-lander-to-discover-whether-life-exists-on-europa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA is even planning to send a lander to Europa</a> to further explore the potential for the moon to support organic life; an effort<a href="https://futurism.com/its-official-in-2025-nasa-and-the-esa-will-land-on-europa-to-look-for-alien-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> supported by the ESA.</a> The two space agencies will partner up with the goal of <a href="https://futurism.com/its-official-in-2025-nasa-and-the-esa-will-land-on-europa-to-look-for-alien-life/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launching</a><a href="https://futurism.com/its-official-in-2025-nasa-and-the-esa-will-land-on-europa-to-look-for-alien-life/"> the mission</a> in the mid-2020&#8217;s.</p>
<p>Even with the most recent discovery made about Titan, <a href="http://www.techtimes.com/articles/159182/20160518/where-might-alien-life-be-hiding-europa-or-titan.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many still favor Europa</a> in the <a href="https://gizmodo.com/molecules-that-could-form-cell-like-membranes-spotted-o-1797280959" target="_blank" rel="noopener">search for extraterrestrial life</a>. Europa&#8217;s oceans have a chemical makeup similar to oceans on Earth, but Titan is the only place in the Solar System (that we know of) other than Earth that has a dense atmosphere, a stable liquid on the surface — and now — a global sea level.</p>
<p>These findings could also impact the <a href="http://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-comet-and-titan-missions-as-new-frontiers-finalists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Frontiers program,</a> a series of space exploration missions conducted by NASA.<a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-seriously-considering-sending-dragonfly-drone-alien-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dragonfly,</a> one of the final candidates for the program&#8217;s next mission, aims to<a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-seriously-considering-sending-dragonfly-drone-alien-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> send a semiautonomous quad-copter</a> to the surface of Titan. In a teleconference announcing the finalists, Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.,  said <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/12/nasa-picks-missions-titan-and-comet-finalists-billion-dollar-mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA selected the finalists</a> &#8220;based on their outstanding and visionary science,&#8221;</p>
<p>These findings could certainly make a mission Titan more attractive, and while the discovery of a global sea level is incredible, it may only be the tip of the iceberg. We won&#8217;t know for sure what awaits discovery on Saturn&#8217;s largest moon until we get there.</p>


What’s even more remarkable than the finding itself is that we were able to make such an observation about a moon that's 930 million miles away from the sun.

Titan has even more in common with Earth than we thought

Researchers were able to fully map Titan's surface, allowing them to make a remarkable observation about a moon that's 930 million miles away from the sun.

Titan Has Even More in Common With Earth Than We Thought

Using Cassini images, researchers were able to fully map the moon's surface.

<h2>Sending a &#8220;Dragonfly&#8221; Drone to an Alien World</h2>
<p>With <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-is-designing-a-submarine-to-explore-titans-largest-ocean/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its vast oceans</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/cassini-images-just-captured-deep-liquid-filled-canyons-on-titans-surface/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">methane-filled rivers and lakes</a>, Titan is a prime candidate for the search for extraterrestrial life. While our knowledge of Saturn&#8217;s largest moon grew tremendously thanks to the now-defunct Cassini mission, the question of whether Titan is home to primitive lifeforms remains a mystery. Now, NASA&#8217;s recent selection of Titan as a possibility for further exploration under its next New Frontiers mission indicates they might want more answers. Selected from a field of 12 possibilities, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invests-in-concept-development-for-missions-to-comet-saturn-moon-titan/">NASA chose a quad-copter known as &#8220;Dragonfly&#8221;</a> as one of two finalists for its next nearly billion-dollar mission. The &#8220;Dragonfly&#8221; drone, like its namesake, would flit between different parts of Titan&#8217;s surface to study the moon&#8217;s landscape and its habitability.</p>
<p>The other contender is a mission to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where a lander would snag a piece of the comet&#8217;s nucleus and return it to Earth for further study.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mk1zVxwq7O4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The plutonium-powered drone would alternate between taking measurements on the moon&#8217;s surface and flying from one site to another, traveling tens to hundreds of kilometers with each flight.</p>
<h2>Extraterrestrial Exploration</h2>
<p>Elizabeth Turtle, principal investigator for Dragonfly from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, <a href="https://hub.jhu.edu/2017/12/22/nasa-selects-dragonfly-mission/">told <em>the HUB</em></a>, “Titan is a fascinating ocean world. It’s the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere, weather, clouds, rain, and liquid lakes and seas—and those liquids are ethane and methane. There’s so much amazing science and discovery to be done on Titan.&#8221; During a NASA teleconference on December 20, 2017, Turtle said the Dragonfly was expected to land on Titan in 2034.</p>
<p>Many scientists have compared the conditions on the surface of Titan to the<a href="https://www.space.com/9864-titan-saturn-planet-early-earth.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> conditions that may have existed</a> on early Earth. In fact,<a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/overview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> NASA even stated </a>that, &#8220;In many respects, Saturn&#8217;s largest moon, Titan, is one of the most Earth-like worlds we have found to date.&#8221; So even if life is never discovered on Titan itself, it could be an ideal place to explore how life came about on Earth.</p>


It's one of two finalists for NASA's next billion-dollar New Frontiers mission.

NASA is considering sending a "Dragonfly" drone to an alien world

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is a promising candidate for extraterrestrial life. NASA may be sending a "Dragonfly" drone to explore Titan's surface.

NASA Is Considering Sending a "Dragonfly" Drone to an Alien World

The drone-like robot could help us explore the potential for life on Titan.

NASA Is Considering Sending a “Dragonfly” Drone to an Alien World

Musk plans to send the first humans to Mars by 2024.

There's no protection from galactic radiation on the Red Planet.

Watch: Elon Musk shouldn't build cities on Mars

Amanda Hendrix of the Planetary Science Institute believes that Titan is a more probable area to permanently colonize in our solar system.

Elon Musk Shouldn't Build Cities On Mars

Elon Musk Shouldn’t Build Cities On Mars

One of Cassini’s many legacies is its contributions to our understanding of Saturn’s moon.

Understanding Titan's atmosphere has given us insight into our own.

One of Cassini's many legacies is its contributions to our understanding of Saturn's moon.

Watch: How Cassini Revealed Titan’s Mysterious Atmospheric Chemistry

<h2>Titan&#8217;s Power</h2>
<p>While Mars has been getting its fair share of publicity, Titan — Saturn&#8217;s largest Moon — is &#8220;remarkably Earth-like,&#8221; as <i><a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2140048-titans-conditions-could-be-just-right-to-power-us-sized-colony/?cmpid=SOC|NSNS|2017-Echobox&amp;utm_campaign=Echobox&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1499435154" target="_blank">New Scientist</a><a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2140048-titans-conditions-could-be-just-right-to-power-us-sized-colony/?cmpid=SOC|NSNS|2017-Echobox&amp;utm_campaign=Echobox&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1499435154"> </a></i>puts it. It boasts a firm surface, a thick atmosphere, and <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530023-700-titans-lakes-could-berefilled-from-below/">even surface water</a>. According to <a href="https://secwww.jhuapl.edu/SpaceScience/Staff/ProfileView/51" target="_blank">Ralph Lorenz</a>, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University, “I think long-term, after Mars, Titan’s probably the next most important place that people will <a href="https://futurism.com/how-do-we-colonize-saturns-moons/" target="_blank">have an extended presence.</a>&#8221; <figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/alien-worlds-meet-the-most-remarkable-moons-in-our-solar-system/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/02/The-Most-interesting-Moons_home_v1-900x600.jpg" alt="Alien Worlds: Meet The Most Remarkable Moons in Our Solar System" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/alien-worlds-meet-the-most-remarkable-moons-in-our-solar-system/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure></p>
<p>This means there&#8217;s a destination beyond Mars that could potentially sustain continued human life. But there is just one (ok, so probably more than one) major problem: power. At about 1.4 billion km (about 870 million miles) from the Sun — compared to Earth&#8217;s approximate 150 million km (93 million miles) — there&#8217;s a high likelihood that whatever is sent to Titan will remain on Titan. Therefore, any energy used by probes (or maybe one day, visitors) would need to be able to be generated on the Moon itself. Luckily, Titan just so happens to have conditions that could make it possible to power a population the size of the United States.</p>
<h2>Mining the Moon</h2>
<p>Titan is rich in methane, and while combusting hydrocarbons for fuel in an oxygen-lacking environment isn&#8217;t the best idea, the moon is also theoretically chock full of acetylene. Acetylene, when combined with hydrogen, can be used to generate power. Additionally, while hydropower might not be the most feasible plan (as the topography doesn&#8217;t naturally lend itself to this type of power) <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19191-green-machine-a-salty-solution-for-power-generation/" target="_blank">ocean turbines</a> could be an another power generation possibility. In addition to all of this, wind power would also be an option — though it would be difficult to implement with the technology that&#8217;s currently available. Despite Titan&#8217;s distance from the Sun, solar power, too, could be a possible power source.</p>
<p>Mining the<a href="https://futurism.com/report-claims-space-mining-is-possible-within-a-few-decades/" target="_blank"> existing natural components of space</a> could prove to be a great ally in our quest to explore the cosmos. It also might give <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-appears-to-be-looking-for-partners-to-help-them-mine-the-moon/" target="_blank">space exploration agencies</a> major <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-fast-tracking-plans-explore-metal-asteroid-worth-10000-quadrillion/" target="_blank">financial </a><a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-fast-tracking-plans-explore-metal-asteroid-worth-10000-quadrillion/">and scientific incentives</a> — as asteroids and moons often contain highly sought after materials. And so, as we begin to better understand these cosmic objects — and hopefully benefit from their components — we can also hope to find ways in which they might lend themselves to sustaining our explorations, and maybe one day, our lives.</p>


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Researchers think Titan's natural atmosphere and physical components could make a good candidate for eventual off-Earth human settlement. It also could serve as a potential energy source for future missions.

/Titan

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