Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is the only known satellite in the solar system to feature an atmosphere, which is almost 50 percent bigger than the Earth’s.
And while NASA’s Dragonfly mission is still many years from launch, the space agency’s scientists are already wondering how the moon could fit into our distant future efforts to move beyond our home planet.
In a new paper currently being peer reviewed, a team of scientists led by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center astronomer Conor Nixon explored the many potential uses for the abundant “useful resources” on Titan. It’s such a lucrative source of complex hydrocarbons — both in their liquid and solid forms — it could serve as an extremely valuable rest stop during trips into deep space.
That’s even compared to establishing a permanent presence on the Moon or Mars, which are worlds where such hydrocarbons like methane are far more difficult to come by.
“This combination of abundant reduced carbon, along with available nitrogen and oxygen makes Titan an enticing world rich in resources that can be readily used to make food, fuel, building materials and more — potentially mission-enabling for long-duration voyages or habitats in the outer solar system,” Nixon’s team wrote.
The concept of in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is almost as old as space travel itself. The idea is to take advantage of local resources instead of going through the effort and expense of bringing them all the way from Earth. While scientists have intensely studied the potential for ISRU on the Moon and Mars, Titan remains a bit of an outlier.
That’s despite its unbridled potential, Nixon says.
“Titan is gushing with hydrocarbons — what we call oil and natural gas on Earth,” he told Universe Today.
The paper makes the case that the vast reservoirs of hydrocarbons and other organics on Titan could make it an ideal location for the fabrication of rocket fuel and plastic products. On the Moon and Mars, creating both would entail complex, multi-step processes.
“On the surface, we can find heavier hydrocarbons, such as propane used in BBQ tanks, butane used in lighters, and heavier liquids like kerosene and gasoline,” Nixon told Universe Today. “Besides burning these hydrocarbons, we can also make a lot of products from them: plastics, synthetic rubber, and feedstocks for everything from solvents to pharmaceuticals, and even foods.”
Of course, setting up shop on the surface of Titan would still be far from easy. For one, temperatures average a cryogenic negative 290 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing for liquid rivers of methane and ethane to flow. The atmospheric pressure is also 50 percent higher than on Earth, while the force of gravity is just one seventh of what we’re accustomed to.
Oxygen, which is required for human survival, is also not nearly as easy to come by, requiring its production via electrolysis.
Nonetheless, if not a permanent habitat, Nixon argued Titan could still be an excellent stopover for spacecraft to refuel or restock a variety of raw materials, “from printer ink to fertilizer.”
In short, it’s an enormous wealth of resources that shouldn’t be ignored, his team argued.
“While current and future planned robotic missions do not require any resources from Titan (e.g. Dragonfly), eventually more ambitious missions will require use of local resources,” the paper concludes. “While such visions are speculative for the time being the unique resources available on Titan in the outer solar system imply that eventually missions will be be developed to take advantage of them.”
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