Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SATURN DAILY
NASA Team Investigates Complex Chemistry At Titan
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 04, 2013


In a laboratory experiment at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., scientists simulating the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan have brewed up complex organic molecules that they think could eventually lead to the building blocks of life. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

A laboratory experiment at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., simulating the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan suggests complex organic chemistry that could eventually lead to the building blocks of life extends lower in the atmosphere than previously thought. The results now point out another region on the moon that could brew up prebiotic materials. The paper was published in Nature Communications this week.

"Scientists previously thought that as we got closer to the surface of Titan, the moon's atmospheric chemistry was basically inert and dull," said Murthy Gudipati, the paper's lead author at JPL.

"Our experiment shows that's not true. The same kind of light that drives biological chemistry on Earth's surface could also drive chemistry on Titan, even though Titan receives far less light from the Sun and is much colder. Titan is not a sleeping giant in the lower atmosphere, but at least half awake in its chemical activity."

Scientists have known since NASA's Voyager mission flew by the Saturn system in the early 1980s that Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has a thick, hazy atmosphere with hydrocarbons, including methane and ethane. These simple organic molecules can develop into smog-like, airborne molecules with carbon-nitrogen-hydrogen bonds, which astronomer Carl Sagan called "tholins."

"We've known that Titan's upper atmosphere is hospitable to the formation of complex organic molecules," said co-author Mark Allen, principal investigator of the JPL Titan team that is a part of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, headquartered at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "Now we know that sunlight in the Titan lower atmosphere can kick-start more complex organic chemistry in liquids and solids rather than just in gases."

The team examined an ice form of dicyanoacetylene - a molecule detected on Titan that is related to a compound that turned brown after being exposed to ambient light in Allen's lab 40 years ago.

In this latest experiment, dicyanoacetylene was exposed to laser light at wavelengths as long as 355 nanometers. Light of that wavelength can filter down to Titan's lower atmosphere at a modest intensity, somewhat like the amount of light that comes through protective glasses when Earthlings view a solar eclipse, Gudipati said.

The result was the formation of a brownish haze between the two panes of glass containing the experiment, confirming that organic-ice photochemistry at conditions like Titan's lower atmosphere could produce tholins.

The complex organics could coat the "rocks" of water ice at Titan's surface and they could possibly seep through the crust, to a liquid water layer under Titan's surface. In previous laboratory experiments, tholins like these were exposed to liquid water over time and developed into biologically significant molecules, such as amino acids and the nucleotide bases that form RNA.

"These results suggest that the volume of Titan's atmosphere involved in the production of more complex organic chemicals is much larger than previously believed," said Edward Goolish, acting director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute. "This new information makes Titan an even more interesting environment for astrobiological study."

.


Related Links
Cassini at JPL
Cassini images
Explore The Ring World of Saturn and her moons
Jupiter and its Moons
The million outer planets of a star called Sol
News Flash at Mercury






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SATURN DAILY
Saturn is Like an Antiques Shop, Cassini Suggests
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 28, 2013
A new analysis of data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft suggests that Saturn's moons and rings are gently worn vintage goods from around the time of our solar system's birth. Though they are tinted on the surface from recent "pollution," these bodies date back more than 4 billion years. They are from around the time that the planetary bodies in our neighborhood began to form out of the proto ... read more


SATURN DAILY
Pre-existing mineralogy may survive lunar impacts

Lunar cycle determines hunting behaviour of nocturnal gulls

Ultraviolet spectrograph observes mercury and hydrogen in GRAIL impact plumes

NASA's LRO Sees GRAIL's Explosive Farewell

SATURN DAILY
Used Parachute on Mars Flaps in the Wind

BusinessCom Networks Connects Mars 2013

SwRI study finds liquid water flowing above and below frozen Alaskan sand dunes, hints of a wetter Mars

Opportunity Moves Into Place for Quiet Period of Operations

SATURN DAILY
India doing excellent in space programmes: Sunita Williams

Miners shoot for the stars in tech race

Space Innovation Center Will Help Govt Agencies Launch Future Space Missions

The Future of Exploration Starts With 3-D Printing

SATURN DAILY
Shenzhou's Shadow Crew

Shenzhou 10 sent to launch site

China's Next Women Astronauts

Shenzhou 10 - Next Stop: Jiuquan

SATURN DAILY
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Team Publishes First Findings

New crew takes express ride to space station

Soyuz Docks At Space Station Four Orbits After Launch

Three astronauts blast off on express ride to ISS

SATURN DAILY
Future Looks Bright for Private US Space Ventures

Europe's next ATV resupply spacecraft enters final preparatio?ns for its Ariane 5 launch

ILS Proton Launches Satmex 8 Satellite for Satmex

When quality counts: Arianespace reaffirms its North American market presence

SATURN DAILY
The Great Exoplanet Debate Part Four

Astronomers Anticipate 100 Billion Earth-Like Planets

The Great Exoplanet Debate

Astronomers Detect Water in Atmosphere of Distant Planet

SATURN DAILY
Michigan Tech researcher slashes optics laboratory costs

CO2 could produce valuable chemical cheaply

Catalyst in a teacup: New approach to chemical reduction

Lasers could yield particle research tool




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement