Multi-spectral view of Titan
Whether there is life on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn,
is at present an open question and a topic of scientific assessment and
research. Titan is far colder than Earth, and its surface lacks stable
liquid water,
factors which have led some scientists to consider life there unlikely.
On the other hand, its thick atmosphere is chemically active and rich
in carbon compounds. On the surface there are bodies of liquid methane and ethane,
and it is likely that there is a layer of liquid water under its ice
shell; some scientists speculate that these liquid mixes may provide
pre-biotic chemistry for living cells different from those on Earth.
In June 2010, scientists analysing data from the Cassini–Huygens
mission reported anomalies in the atmosphere near the surface which
could be consistent with the presence of methane-producing organisms,
but may alternatively be due to non-living chemical or meteorological
processes. The Cassini–Huygens mission was not equipped to look directly for micro-organisms or to provide a thorough inventory of complex organic compounds.
Chemistry
Titan's
consideration as an environment for the study of prebiotic chemistry or
potentially exotic life stems in large part due to the diversity of the
organic chemistry that occurs in its atmosphere, driven by
photochemical reactions in its outer layers. The following chemicals
have been detected in Titan's upper atmosphere by Cassini's mass spectrometer:
| Species | Magee, 1050 km | Cui, 1050 km | Cui, 1077 km | Waite et al., 1000–1045 km |
| Density (cm−3) | (3.18±0.71) x 109 | (4.84±0.01) x 109 | (2.27±0.01) x 109 | (3.19, 7.66) x 109 |
| Nitrogen | (96.3±0.44)% | (97.8±0.2)% | (97.4±0.5)% | (95.5, 97.5)% |
| 14N15N | (1.08±0.06)% |
| ||
| Methane | (2.17±0.44)% | (1.78±0.01)% | (2.20±0.01)% | (1.32, 2.42)% |
| 13CH4 | (2.52±0.46) x 10−4 |
| ||
| Hydrogen | (3.38±0.23) x 10−3 | (3.72±0.01) x 10−3 | (3.90±0.01) x 10−3 |
|
| Acetylene | (3.42±0.14) x 10−4 | (1.68±0.01) x 10−4 | (1.57±0.01) x 10−4 | (1.02, 3.20) x 10−4 |
| Ethylene | (3.91±0.23) x 10−4 | (5.04±0.04) x 10−4 | (4.62±0.04) x 10−4 | (0.72, 1.02) x 10−3 |
| Ethane | (4.57±0.74) x 10−5 | (4.05±0.19) x 10−5 | (2.68±0.19) x 10−5 | (0.78, 1.50) x 10−5 |
| Hydrogen cyanide | (2.44±0.10) x 10−4 |
| ||
| 40Ar | (1.26±0.05) x 10−5 | (1.25±0.02) x 10−5 | (1.10±0.03) x 10−5 |
|
| Propyne | (9.20±0.46) x 10−6 | (9.02±0.22) x 10−6 | (6.31±0.24) x 10−6 | (0.55, 1.31) x 10−5 |
| Propene | (2.33±0.18) x 10−6 | (0.69, 3.59) x 10−4 | ||
| Propane | (2.87±0.26) x 10−6 | <1 .84="" 10="" sup="" x="">−6 |
As mass spectrometry identifies the atomic mass of a compound but not
its structure, additional research is required to identify the exact
compound that has been detected. Where the compounds have been
identified in the literature, their chemical formula has been replaced
by their name above. The figures in Magee (2009) involve corrections
for high pressure background. Other compounds believed to be indicated
by the data and associated models include ammonia, polyynes, amines, ethylenimine, deuterium hydride, allene, 1,3 butadiene
and any number of more complex chemicals in lower concentrations, as
well as carbon dioxide and limited quantities of water vapour.
Surface temperature
Due
to its distance from the Sun, Titan is much colder than Earth. Its
surface temperature is about 90 K (−179 °C, or −290 °F). At these
temperatures, water ice—if present—does not melt, evaporate or sublime,
but remains solid. Because of the extreme cold and also because of lack
of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, scientists such as Jonathan Lunine have viewed Titan less as a likely habitat for extraterrestrial life, than as an experiment for examining hypotheses on the conditions that prevailed prior to the appearance of life on Earth.
Even though the usual surface temperature on Titan is not compatible
with liquid water, calculations by Lunine and others suggest that meteor
strikes could create occasional "impact oases"—craters in which liquid
water might persist for hundreds of years or longer, which would enable
water-based organic chemistry.
However, Lunine does not rule out life in an environment of
liquid methane and ethane, and has written about what discovery of such a
life form (even if very primitive) would imply about the prevalence of
life in the universe.
Past hypothesis about the temperature
Titan - infrared view
(November 13, 2015).
(November 13, 2015).
In the 1970s, astronomers found unexpectedly high levels of infrared emissions from Titan. One possible explanation for this was the surface was warmer than expected, due to a greenhouse effect.
Some estimates of the surface temperature even approached temperatures
in the cooler regions of Earth. There was, however, another possible
explanation for the infrared emissions: Titan's surface was very cold,
but the upper atmosphere was heated due to absorption of ultraviolet
light by molecules such as ethane, ethylene and acetylene.
In September 1979, Pioneer 11,
the first space probe to conduct fly-by observations of Saturn and its
moons, sent data showing Titan's surface to be extremely cold by Earth
standards, and much below the temperatures generally associated with planetary habitability.
Future temperature
Titan may become warmer in the future. Five to six billion years from now, as the Sun becomes a red giant,
surface temperatures could rise to ~200 K (−70 °C), high enough for
stable oceans of a water–ammonia mixture to exist on its surface. As the
Sun's ultraviolet output decreases, the haze in Titan's upper
atmosphere will be depleted, lessening the anti-greenhouse effect on its
surface and enabling the greenhouse effect created by atmospheric
methane to play a far greater role. These conditions together could
create an environment agreeable to exotic forms of life, and will
persist for several hundred million years.
This was sufficient time for simple life to evolve on Earth, although
the presence of ammonia on Titan could cause the same chemical reactions
to proceed more slowly.
Absence of surface liquid water
The lack of liquid water on Titan's surface was cited by NASA astrobiologist
Andrew Pohorille in 2009 as an argument against life there. Pohorille
considers that water is important not only as the solvent used by "the
only life we know" but also because its chemical properties are
"uniquely suited to promote self-organization of organic matter". He has
questioned whether prospects for finding life on Titan's surface are
sufficient to justify the expense of a mission that would look for it.
Possible subsurface liquid water
Laboratory
simulations have led to the suggestion that enough organic material
exists on Titan to start a chemical evolution analogous to what is
thought to have started life on Earth. While the analogy assumes the
presence of liquid water for longer periods than is currently
observable, several hypotheses suggest that liquid water from an impact
could be preserved under a frozen isolation layer. It has also been proposed that ammonia oceans could exist deep below the surface;
one model suggests an ammonia–water solution as much as 200 km deep
beneath a water ice crust, conditions that, "while extreme by
terrestrial standards, are such that life could indeed survive". Heat transfer between the interior and upper layers would be critical in sustaining any sub-surface oceanic life.
Detection of microbial life on Titan would depend on its biogenic
effects. For example, the atmospheric methane and nitrogen could be
examined for biogenic origin.
Data published in 2012 obtained from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, have strengthened evidence that Titan likely harbors a layer of liquid water under its ice shell.
Formation of complex molecules
Titan is the only known natural satellite (moon) in the Solar System that has a fully developed atmosphere that consists of more than trace gases. Titan's atmosphere is thick, chemically active, and is known to be rich in organic compounds; this has led to speculation about whether chemical precursors of life may have been generated there. The atmosphere also contains hydrogen gas, which is cycling through the atmosphere and the surface environment, and which living things comparable to Earth methanogens could combine with some of the organic compounds (such as acetylene) to obtain energy.
The Miller–Urey experiment and several following experiments have shown that with an atmosphere similar to that of Titan and the addition of UV radiation, complex molecules and polymer substances like tholins can be generated. The reaction starts with dissociation of nitrogen and methane, forming hydrogen cyanide and acetylene. Further reactions have been studied extensively.
In October 2010, Sarah Hörst of the University of Arizona reported finding the five nucleotide bases—building blocks of DNA and RNA—among
the many compounds produced when energy was applied to a combination of
gases like those in Titan's atmosphere. Horst also found amino acids, the building blocks of protein.
She said it was the first time nucleotide bases and amino acids had
been found in such an experiment without liquid water being present.
In April 2013, NASA reported that complex organic chemicals could arise on Titan based on studies simulating the atmosphere of Titan. In June 2013, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected in the upper atmosphere of Titan.
Research has suggested that polyimine could readily function as a building block in Titan's conditions.
Titan's atmosphere produces significant quantities of hydrogen
cyanide, which readily polymerize into forms which can capture light
energy in Titan's surface conditions. As of yet, the answer to what
happens with Titan's cyanide is unknown; while it is rich in the upper
atmosphere where it is created, it is depleted at the surface,
suggesting that there is some sort of reaction consuming it.
Hypothesis
Hydrocarbons as solvents
Hydrocarbon lakes on Titan (Cassini radar image from 2006
Although all living things on Earth (including methanogens) use
liquid water as a solvent, it is conceivable that life on Titan might
instead use a liquid hydrocarbon, such as methane or ethane. Water is a stronger solvent than hydrocarbons, however, water is more chemically reactive, and can break down large organic molecules through hydrolysis. A life-form whose solvent was a hydrocarbon would not face the risk of its biomolecules being destroyed in this way.
Titan appears to have lakes of liquid ethane or liquid methane on its surface, as well as rivers and seas, which some scientific models suggest could support hypothetical non-water-based life.
It has been speculated that life could exist in the liquid methane and
ethane that form rivers and lakes on Titan's surface, just as organisms
on Earth live in water. Such hypothetical creatures would take in H2 in place of O2, react it with acetylene instead of glucose, and produce methane instead of carbon dioxide. By comparison, some methanogens on Earth obtain energy by reacting hydrogen with carbon dioxide, producing methane and water.
In 2005, astrobiologists Chris McKay
and Heather Smith predicted that if methanogenic life is consuming
atmospheric hydrogen in sufficient volume, it will have a measurable
effect on the mixing ratio in the troposphere
of Titan. The effects predicted included a level of acetylene much
lower than otherwise expected, as well as a reduction in the
concentration of hydrogen itself.
Evidence consistent with these predictions was reported in June 2010 by Darrell Strobel of Johns Hopkins University,
who analysed measurements of hydrogen concentration in the upper and
lower atmosphere. Strobel found that the hydrogen concentration in the
upper atmosphere is so much larger than near the surface that the
physics of diffusion leads to hydrogen flowing downwards at a rate of roughly 1025 molecules per second. Near the surface the downward-flowing hydrogen apparently disappears. Another paper released the same month showed very low levels of acetylene on Titan's surface.
Chris McKay agreed with Strobel that presence of life, as
suggested in McKay's 2005 article, is a possible explanation for the
findings about hydrogen and acetylene, but also cautioned that other
explanations are currently more likely: namely the possibility that the
results are due to human error, to a meteorological process, or to the presence of some mineral catalyst enabling hydrogen and acetylene to react chemically.
He noted that such a catalyst, one effective at −178 °C (95 K), is
presently unknown and would in itself be a startling discovery, though
less startling than discovery of an extraterrestrial life form.
The June 2010 findings gave rise to considerable media interest, including a report in the British newspaper, the Telegraph, which spoke of clues to the existence of "primitive aliens".
Cell membranes
A hypothetical cell membrane capable of functioning in liquid methane was modeled in February 2015. The proposed chemical base for these membranes is acrylonitrile, which has been detected on Titan. Called an "azotosome"
('nitrogen body'), formed from "azote", French for nitrogen, and
"soma", Greek for body, it lacks the phosphorus and oxygen found in phospholipids
on Earth but contains nitrogen. Despite the very different chemical
structure and external environment, its properties are surprisingly
similar, including autoformation of sheets, flexibility, stability, and
other properties.
An analysis of Cassini data, completed in 2017, confirmed substantial amounts of acrylonitrile in Titan's atmosphere.
Comparative habitability
In order to assess the likelihood of finding any sort of life on various planets and moons, Dirk Schulze-Makuch and other scientists have developed a Planetary Habitability Index
which takes into account factors including characteristics of the
surface and atmosphere, availability of energy, solvents and organic
compounds.
Using this index, based on data available in late 2011, the model
suggests that Titan has the highest current habitability rating of any
known world, other than Earth.
Titan as a test case
While the Cassini–Huygens mission was not equipped to provide evidence for biosignatures
or complex organics, it showed an environment on Titan that is similar,
in some ways, to ones theorized for the primordial Earth.
Scientists think that the atmosphere of early Earth was similar in
composition to the current atmosphere on Titan, with the important
exception of a lack of water vapor on Titan. Many hypotheses have developed that attempt to bridge the step from chemical to biological evolution.
Titan is presented as a test case for the relation between
chemical reactivity and life, in a 2007 report on life's limiting
conditions prepared by a committee of scientists under the United States National Research Council. The committee, chaired by John Baross,
considered that "if life is an intrinsic property of chemical
reactivity, life should exist on Titan. Indeed, for life not to exist on
Titan, we would have to argue that life is not an intrinsic property of
the reactivity of carbon-containing molecules under conditions where
they are stable..."
David Grinspoon,
one of the scientists who in 2005 proposed that hypothetical organisms
on Titan might use hydrogen and acetylene as an energy source, has mentioned the Gaia hypothesis
in the context of discussion about Titan life. He suggests that, just
as Earth's environment and its organisms have evolved together, the same
thing is likely to have happened on other worlds with life on them. In
Grinspoon's view, worlds that are "geologically and meteorologically
alive are much more likely to be biologically alive as well".
Panspermia or independent origin
An
alternate explanation for life's hypothetical existence on Titan has
been proposed: if life were to be found on Titan, it could have
originated from Earth in a process called panspermia.
It is theorized that large asteroid and cometary impacts on Earth's
surface have caused hundreds of millions of fragments of microbe-laden
rock to escape Earth's gravity. Calculations indicate that a number of
these would encounter many of the bodies in the Solar System, including
Titan.
On the other hand, Jonathan Lunine has argued that any living things in
Titan's cryogenic hydrocarbon lakes would need to be so different
chemically from Earth life that it would not be possible for one to be
the ancestor of the other.
In Lunine's view, presence of organisms in Titan's lakes would mean a
second, independent origin of life within the Solar System, implying
that life has a high probability of emerging on habitable worlds
throughout the cosmos.
Proposed missions
The proposed Titan Mare Explorer mission, a Discovery-class lander that would splash down in a lake, "would have the possibility of detecting life", according to astronomer Chris Impey of the University of Arizona.
The proposed Dragonfly rotorcraft probe mission is intended to land on solid ground and relocate many times. Dragonfly is a New Frontiers-class proposal. An aim of the mission is to find out how far Titan’s “rich organics may have ascended up the ‘ladder of life’ “.
Dragonfly would carry equipment to study the chemical composition of
Titan's surface, and to sample the lower atmosphere for possible
biomarkers, including hydrogen concentrations.
