Lake like feature on Titan

[ldyaidan]

I think we should build a lot more rovers. Sending a couple to Titan would be amazing, as well as to other planets in the solar system. They would, of course, need a different power supply, due to the lack of sunlight for the solar cells, but could be a good way to test the nuclear options.<br /><br />Rae

 

[yurkin]

But a glint could come off a smooth frozen surface. So you would have to know what the substance was.<br /><br />But to me it looks just like the other dark areas of Titan not unlike what Huygens landed on. In all likelihood this is the same type of terrain.<br />

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>But a glint could come off a smooth frozen surface. So you would have to know what the substance was. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />That is correct; you can get specular reflections off of anything very flat, and although liquids are handy for that (as they flow and consequently must have a flat top unless there's something actively disturbing them), solids can be flat too. It's just less likely for a solid to be that flat. If a large solid surface is found to be that flat, there would be a good chance that it was very young, geologically speaking, since clearly no erosion or impact damage had been incurred since the formation of the surface.<br /><br />So either way, a glint would be remarkable and very interesting. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[chew_on_this]

Steve says <font color="yellow">"That supposed tidal heating has not been experimentally, instrumentally, or observationally shown to be real. It's possible, but then so are LGM. Just not likely.</font><br /><br />Titans observed orbit is slighlty eccentric so tidal flexing is very likely. This depends on whether there is a liquid layer or not.<br /><br />Steve also blathers <font color="yellow">"It's still cryonically cold all over Titan. NO life as we know it could possibly metabolize there. Titan is therefore a dead world, like all the Jovian worlds known so far." </font><br /><br />Boy, you sure are stuck on surface temps, aren't you? Radiogenic heat from Titans' core is almost a certainty.<br /><br />

 

[bobvanx]

>>I wonder after the success of Deep Impact if they will reconsider, now?<br /><br />Doubt it. Most of us are pretty stubborn. Steve, did you propose a solution for getting through Titan's incredibly deep atmosphere with any sort of meaningful velocity delivered to the target? Surely hypersonic speeds are required in order to loft some material up into Titan's atmosphere where we could get spectral readings of the plume.<br />

 

[volcanopele2]

"I got my figures from NewScientist. The interesting thing is that the average temps are so close to the melting points of methane and ethane. But so far, no 'lakes' have been found."<br /><br />Well, those three degrees of rounding off sure do make a difference <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> They allow ethane or methane to go from questionably liquid to definitely liquid. As I said before, also don't count out nitriles which can act as a anti-freeze. In terms of no lakes, no specular reflection has been observed, true, but the morphologic evidence is growing that lakes either occur today or sometime in the recent past.<br /><br />"That supposed tidal heating has not been experimentally, instrumentally, or observationally shown to be real. It's possible, but then so are LGM. Just not likely.<br /><br />It's still cryonically cold all over Titan. NO life as we know it could possibly metabolize there. Titan is therefore a dead world, like all the Jovian worlds known so far."<br /><br />Observationally, the relative lack of impact craters on the surface of Titan suggests that the surface age is certainly less than 1 billion years. True, Titan could have had a period where the eccentricity was much greater which led to increased tidal heating. And Titan is certainly no Io. But I wouldn't discount tidal heating effects, but I would be wary with invoking it for liquids since we don't need it. The current surface temperatures are sufficient for liquid methane or ethane.