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The Sierras of Titan

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the titans-of-titan dept.

eldavojohn writes "Cassini has detected the tallest mountains on Titan, a large moon of Saturn. More importantly, clouds have also been detected in Titan's atmosphere. Why is this news important? Well, as scientists scan the skies for the easiest piece of mass to colonize, things that resemble Earth's geology & atmosphere are going to require the least effort & resources. These mountains mean that Titan may have tectonic plate movement similar in some ways to earth's. From the article, '"You can think of Titan as the Earth in deep freeze," said Dr Rosaly Lopes, Cassini radar team member at the US space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It has a lot of the geological processes that Earth has. In fact, it is more Earth-like than anywhere else in the Solar System. But the surface is very cold; it's about minus 178C."'"

2 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Antarctica is a lot warmer by mi · · Score: 4, Insightful
    But the surface is very cold; it's about minus 178C.

    It is a lot warmer in Antarctica and the easy-to-reach place has plenty of oxygen and water. If we really are running out of room, the continent should be colonized first...

    Heck, if the "Global Warming" fear-mongering is even partially true, the continent will only become better — and it already is much better than any extra-terrestrial body.

    That no settlements (as in "villages", not science labs) exist even on this much more habitable place is just a sign, how far off space colonization really is... I think, some South America's country(ies) tried to pay people to live there (just to claim territory, pretty much), but it still failed...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  2. Um....wha? by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Well, as scientists scan the skies for the easiest piece of mass to colonize, things that resemble Earth's geology & atmosphere are going to require the least effort & resources."

    That's a rather meaningless (or outright WRONG) statement.

    Mars: tectonically dead or nearly so. Dust storms but no real analogue to Earthly seas, precipitation, or geological processes. Ability to colonize? Relatively easy.

    Titan: mountains, clouds, precipitation, "seas", etc. Ability to colonize? Extremely difficult.

    Similarity to Earthly processes is meaningless. There are plenty of Earthly processes that make things HARDER, not easier.

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    -Styopa