31.8.05

Life on Titan?


The article I link to investigates the question "Will we even recognize life on Titan if it's there?", so there is a concentration on the areas of biology and chemistry, and the article is a tad out of date since the probe arrived in early 2005, but still, it's wicked stuff.

But there is an additional thing to think about - the scope of this achievement.

We humans are; sending a machine, from Earth, out of our gravity well, past the Moon, past Mars, past the asteroid belt, all the way out to Saturn, where it will rendezvous not merely with the gas giant, but with one it's moon's about 2/3rds the size of Earth and potentially capable of supporting life. It will then survey Titan using the instruments on board, and relay the information back to Earth.

Is this not mindblowing stuff?

The answer to the question I pose in the title of this post is 'Yes'. The Huygens probe is the glove around our hand, reaching across the solar system to grasp Saturn's most intriguing moon. A sign of life will be there, because the Huygens probe will be a sign of us.

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