Titan or Bust

Jared Rinaldi
Saturnlp.jpg

The economy's in shambles, but that doesn't mean that a few million dollars can't be scraped together in the name of space exploration. NASA and the ESA hope to finance a mission to either Saturn's moon Titan, or to Jupiter and its moons Europa and Ganymede.

Besides Earth, Titan and Europa are the two likeliest candidates in our solar system to harbor life. Titan's thick atmosphere leaves it with waterways and oceans of liquid methane and ethane, while Europa's entire surface is thickly coated with ice, beneath which is believed to be actual liquid H20. Ganymede, the largest satellite in our solar system, is also the only moon to possess a magnetic field.

With the combined efforts of NASA and the ESA, it would seem that the search for life is bound to continue, no matter which moon we decide to make our next giant leap on.

Image: "Four Moons over Saturn" by ridingwithrobots on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

 

Comments

Jupiter Of Course

Submitted by PHAEDRES on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 13:08.
Since we have a platform over Saturn and it appears a seven year extension is about to be approved for it, Jupiter seems the logical choice.We have already sent a lander to Titan so that's a non-issue.The moons are inviting certainly but a probe into the clouds of the giant mystery would be historic.A closer look at the polar regions would bring data to the hexagon controversy.The debate should revolve around the landing site on the giant not which planet.Europa and Ganymede should each get a probe.If we'd scrape the idea of an astronaut adventure to Mars and use robotics instead we could consolidate our resources and speed the whole process along. If we don't do something drastic the timeline will drift into the future and all this will be twenty,thirty years away.Boring.