2010: The Year We Make Contact?

[athelind]

Something is consuming hydrogen and methane on Saturn's moon, Titan.

This isn't as obvious, exciting, or definitive a "yes" as, say, an ancient city atop Olympus Mons, or giant tentacles pulling a space probe beneath the ice, and most people are going to react by saying, "aw, that could be anything".

And yes, it could be a lot of things.

But it's an anomaly. The concentrations of at least two chemicals are far from what we'd predict if only simple physical and chemical processes are involved. James Lovelock, before he got famous for his controversial Gaea Hypothesis, postulated that the best way to search for life would be to look for exactly that: "anomalous" concentrations of compounds, far from chemical equilibrium, that are nonetheless stable.

NASA scientists have been saying for years that Titan and a few other gas giant moons have "all the requirements" for methane-based life, if such a thing is possible. I've largely smiled, nodded, and moved on, because, up until now, it looked like the "perfect conditions" on the Outer Moons were at chemical equilibrium.

But now: missing hydrogen and acetylene.

As someone whose entire college curriculum was built around the application of systems theory to biology, that makes me sit up and take notice.

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Comments

[tombfyre.livejournal.com]

Seems we've got a very active solar system on our paws. Pluto is changing colors too! Its becoming all red, for some reason.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

It finally found out that it's not a planet anymore, and it's all embarrassed.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Or maybe annoyed...

[tombfyre.livejournal.com]

Heh heh, I was joking around that very subject with others earlier. :3

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Indeed, it's an interesting set of circumstances. Maybe not enough to get excited over just yet, but certainly enough to make me very interested in seeing some follow-up research done into this.

[terminotaur.livejournal.com]

Very very interesting. Even if its just a chemical reaction, I'd be curious to see what it turns out to be. Of course biological life would be so much more interesting, especially a nitrogen based one.

I just can't resist this though....
"ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA TITAN. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE."

(of course now that we did land there we're in trouble :) )

[athelind.livejournal.com]

When it comes down to it, what is life but "just a chemical reaction"?

[terminotaur.livejournal.com]

Sure thing. I was kind of thinking that as I wrote it. Chemical reactions wrapped up (often) in a lipid bilayer for ease of storage. :)

[zeeth_kyrah]

Speaking of which, I noticed that the surface had an organic compound which has not yet been identified. Perhaps the sort of mixed-up goo upon which life is built?

[silussa.livejournal.com]

It seems the question of life on Titan is a firm "not likely, but maybe".

But it's a very, very exciting maybe.