Researchers discuss the potential habitability of Saturn’s moon Titan, which has been found to have an ocean.
Researchers have recently made a disheartening discovery regarding Saturn’s moon Titan, often referred to as an ocean moon. Despite its promising name, scientists have found that Titan is actually inhospitable and lacks the necessary organic chemistry to sustain life. This finding has shed light on why the moon cannot support living organisms, disappointing those who had hoped for the possibility of life on Titan.
Why Saturn’s moon Titan is uninhabitable
According to an astrobiological study (via Space.com), Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, also known as an ocean moon, cannot support life due to its improper organic chemistry. The moon is known for having a petrochemical atmosphere with a variety of organic molecules on its surface, including carbon-containing compounds, however, the planet cannot support life due to its extremely cold weather. According to reports, the surface temperature of Titan is -179 degrees Celsius and life cannot grow in such a cold place.
The moon is expected to contain a huge underground liquid ocean, where the temperature is expected to be warmer than the outer surface. A liquid ocean is also on earth and there is life there. Is it the same with Titan? Planetary scientist Catherine Neish of Western University in Ontario says Titan’s ocean is not habitable. Neish said: “Even in this most optimistic scenario, there is not enough organic matter moving into Titan’s ocean to support life there.”
The researchers also said that studying such icy moons directly is challenging, but Neish is hopeful that NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Titan will yield much better data to build a more concrete theory.
