Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Apr 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010ttt..work...48s&link_type=abstract
Through Time; A Workshop On Titan's Past, Present and Future, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, April 6th - 8th, 2010. Edited b
Mathematics
Logic
1
Scientific paper
More than 400 lakes have been identified near Titan's north pole, with sizes that range from a few km2 to seas in excess of 100,000 km2. The lakes and seas fill through rainfall and/or intersection with the subsurface liquid methane table, and provide the first evidence for an active condensable-liquid cycle on another planetary body. Many aspects of Titan's seas are unknown, including their composition, depth, and shoreline characteristics, but are key to understanding Titan's hydrological cycle. In addition to ethane, methane and nitrogen, Titan's seas will likely contain dissolved amounts of many other compounds. It is possible that further chemistry may take place, yielding prebiotic molecules impossible to form in the gas phase. It has even been suggested that autocatalytic chemical cycles might yield far-from-equilibrium abundance patterns or mimic the functionality of biological systems. The Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) is a Discovery-class mission to a Titan sea that provides in situ measurements to constrain Titan's active methane cycle as well as its intriguing prebiotic organic chemistry. The target for TiME is Ligeia Mare, at 78°N, 250°W, one of the largest seas identified on Titan. TiME would test the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators (ASRGs), and would pioneer low-cost, outer solar system missions. Science objectives for TiME include measuring the chemistry of the sea to determine their role as a source and sink of methane and its chemical products, determining the depth of the sea to help constrain organic inventory, ascertaining marine processes including the nature of the sea surface and sea circulation, and determining sea surface meteorology. TiME science is fundamental, and will provide the first in situ exploration of an extraterrestrial sea, the first in situ measurements of an active liquid cycle beyond Earth, and aid in understanding the limits of life in our solar system.
Lorenz Ralph
Lunine Jonathan
Stofan Ellen R.
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