Slashdot Mirror
Sea of oil seen on Titan/DS1 Asteriod fly-by
nsanch writes "The BBC is reporting that there may be an ocean of oil on Titan, the only open sea on a planet (other than Earth) that's in our solar system." And in other news, thanks to Corrado for the pointer over to the Deep Space 1 Mission Log, chuck-full of details from the recent Asteriod Braille fly-by. Amazing how much info you can get at 35,000 Miles per Hour.
No, it implies that they said hydrocarbons (like methane) and the press went and said, what's a simple word for hydrocarbons that the illiterate readership and relate to... hmmmm... OIL!
SAUDI ARABIA ANNEXES TITAN
"Mine, Mine, All Mine," Vows Gleeful King
DHARAN, SAUDI ARABIA (AP) - In a bold and unprecedented move, an Earth-based nation has laid claim to an entire celestial body. When the BBC reported that astronomers had located a potential "ocean of oil" on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, the government of Saudi Arabia quickly mobilized and annexed the satellite using a highly questionable procedure. Saudi Arabia is an extremely oil-rich country, and most analysts believe that the move by the Saudis serves only to increase their oil reserves.
The United States' reaction to the annexation was swift and negative. "We would advise Saudi Arabia to carefully reconsider their decision," said State Department spokeman James Rubin. "The Chinese attempted to annex the Jovian satellite Europa in 2010: Odyssey Two, and you saw what happened to them. This move is reckless, and may have far-reaching unintended consequences." Similar statements were released by Russia, France, Tahiti, and Swaziland. As of yet, no country has indicated that they will officially recognize Titan as Saudi soil.
The reaction from Titan was equally fervent. "Under no circumstances," stated official satellite spokesbeing Gkklotrff Bdssuirghed, "will the citizens of Titan accept any intrusion by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We have never done anything to you silly Earth-bound two-legged bastards; all we ask is that you pay us the reciprocal courtesy in return." The official Titan News Agency reported that the Titan military was in a state of "high alert."
The Saudi government, however, is downplaying the interplanetary outrage. "What we have done, we have done under the auspices of international law. If the United States, or Swaziland, or whatever, wished to annex Titan, it could have done so long ago," said a government spokeperson. "Waahh, waahh, waahh. You're just jealous because we did it first."
In the meantime, however, Saudi Arabia is preparing its massive space program for an expedition to the distant moon. While the government is closely protecting the identity of the five astronauts that will make the trip in the top-of-the-line Saudi Shazam al-Rocket spacecraft, the Associated Press was able to speak by telephone to one of them. "I'm very pleased to be going," said the astronaut, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "I am confident that Allah will protect us and keep us safe on our way to Titan. Hopefully, when we get there, we'll find 'Allaht' of oil," the astronaut joked.
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground