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Cassini Probe Sees Plastic Ingredient On Titan Moon
Ron024 writes "The Cassini probe has detected propene, or propylene, on Saturn's moon Titan. It is the first definitive detection of the plastic ingredient on any moon or planet, other than our home world, says the U.S. space agency (NASA). The discovery, made by Cassini's infrared spectrometer, is reported in Astrophysical Journal Letters [abstract]."
Doesn't anyone remember the last time we found plastic on another planet?
Sig: I stole this sig.
"Today, NASA has found the remnants of cow flatulence on Saturn. Scientists call this mysterious gas "methane". According to these scientists, methane contains one carbon and 4 hydrogens. How exactly did this "methane" made it's way to Saturn? We are sure the scientists are working vigorously to find out."
To all you virgins: Thanks for nothing.
You know what this means? The Nestene Consciousness is probably living there with its army of Autons. Someone call the Doctor!
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Planets want plastic and we evolved to make lots of it. So get over your "save the planet" BS and start giving the planet more plastic.
We should create a Kickstarter to send a shipment to Titan which while working hard to make it's own, clearly would be happy with much more.
... when migrating aliens get their heads ( er ... extended body parts? ) caught in these 6 pack devil traps and can no longer execute their primary function:
** probing anal orifices **
A sad discovery indeed.
I do not think there would be any oxygen dissolved in the ice. That oxygen would have to have come from the atmosphere, not from the molecules. If anything, there would be dissolved methane trapped in the ice.
No, I think that your only source of oxygen would be from electrolysis. But one should safely assume that any space station capable of succeeding anywhere, would have to be build with the capability of producing excesses of energy (nuclear or chemical).
Who knows, by then we may have a relay of satellites that focus and transmit solar energy.
BRB while I patent my Solar Heat Attenuated Radiation Konveyor - Laser array.
The problem is you can't get a neat gain from burning methane + O2 and using that energy to make more O2 and have energy left over. You would need an abundant supply of oxygen or a method of splitting water that is more efficient.
The USA generates a significant portion of trash and pollution (and it refuses to reduce this amount because it would affect the economy), but AFAIK it is still behind China.
This is /. Please stop using facts to interfere with USA bashing.
So aliens use plastic too eh? Greenpeace is going to have a fit...
No, solar power won't even work at Jupiter, much less Saturn. The amount of solar panel necessary to eliminate the RTG on Galileo would have made the spacecraft so enormous that it wouldn't have been stable enough for photography in Jupiter's gravity field. Saturn is even further out, receiving even less sunlight. At that distance you're stuck with nuclear power or some other more exotic energy source. Since both Jupiter and Saturn are surrounded by powerful energy fields perhaps there would be some way to tap that with a tether or something. Solar won't do it.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin