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Titan's Surface Organics Surpass Oil Reserves on Earth -NASA

nasa.gov — Saturn's orange moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The hydrocarbons rain from the sky, collecting in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes.

Who dugg this? Made popular Feb 18, 2008

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  • FeargusMcDuff, on 02/18/2008, -11/+202This just in: America and her allies have declared war on Titan.
  • Frostman3D, on 02/18/2008, -2/+89If you're not with us, you're with the Titanists.
  • purpmint008, on 02/18/2008, -5/+90Titan has weapons of mass destruction and was related to the 9/11 attacks.
    Operation Titanic Freedom!
    Spread democracy to Titan!
  • thespudmall, on 02/18/2008, -4/+63Just in: All the oil corporations have donated substantial sums of money to NASA and ESA.
  • ryan83189, on 02/18/2008, -2/+60we're fighting them over there, so we don't have to fight them over here.
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -1/+58We are gonna liberate the ***** out of them.
  • Chairboy, on 02/18/2008, -4/+55"That's no moon. That's a gas station!"

    (it got me a couple polite chuckles on Slashdot when this story hit there. First rule of software development is to re-use!)
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -4/+55Now there are seas of water on Earth, but there are seas of liquid methane on Titan. Life on earth survives by drinking water, but I was wondering if there is life at least micro-organism on Titan that survives by drinking liquid methane.

    Fantasy asides, Earth was once, about 3.5 billion years ago, covered with seas of methane too. During this time, Earth's earliest life appeared. These first, ancient bacteria added to the methane concentration by converting hydrogen and carbon dioxide into methane and water. Oxygen did not become a major part of the atmosphere until photosynthetic organisms evolved later in Earth's history.
  • romistrub, on 02/18/2008, -6/+55lol... allies... right
  • TheSkunkMonkey, on 02/18/2008, -5/+45Cue oil executive having an orgasm in 5.. 4.. 3..
  • foofightrs777, on 02/18/2008, -2/+35We will be greeted as liberators by the Titanists. This is not a war for oil. No, this is a war for democracy and a war for universal American values. Democracy is on the move (and once we've taken all your natural resources we will leave and allow it to move in).
  • freecon, on 02/18/2008, -2/+26Titan had dinosaurs, too!
  • Axfire, on 02/18/2008, -3/+24ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE. USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE.
  • vw2005, on 02/18/2008, -1/+21YES..... I don't have to get a Prius now.... take THAT, hippy wife!
  • alexanderhazard, on 02/18/2008, -3/+22hah. More fosil fuels to burn. awesome.

    someone saran wrap the ozone again.
  • SemiSarcastic, on 02/18/2008, -1/+19Cowboy Bebop was right: there will be a war on Titian, and Vicious will use his soldierly skills there to help start the intersteller syndicate Red Dragon.
  • XNihil0Zer0, on 02/18/2008, -4/+21It is not the properties of liquids that allow life to survive, it is the properties of water specifically. It is a better solvent than many liquids. It is pH neutral. Liquid water allows hydrocarbons in it to react in ways which allow those hydrocarbons to ultimately replicate. And It is essensial for all cellular metabolic processes.
  • Murdats, on 02/18/2008, -0/+17your one of those liberal hippy titanofacist lovers who would love to see us all get blown up instead of hurting a single evil titanofacist
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -0/+14United States and Poland FTW
  • positron, on 02/18/2008, -2/+15Dude, seriously. You need to go back to school and do some studying. Everybody knows that god did not create the Earth 3000 years ago. It was 6000 years ago. Duh.
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -0/+13Wikipedia has this good list of Extremophiles:

    * Acidophile: An organism with an optimum pH level at or below pH 3.
    * Alkaliphile: An organism with optimal growth at pH levels of 9 or above.
    * Endolith: An organism that lives in microscopic spaces within rocks, such as pores between aggregate grains. These may also be called cryptoendoliths. This term also includes organisms populating fissures, aquifers, and faults filled with groundwater in the deep subsurface.
    * Halophile: An organism requiring at least 2M of salt, NaCl, for growth.
    * Hyperthermophile: An organism that can thrive at temperatures between 80-121 °C, such as those found in hydrothermal systems.
    * Hypolith: An organism that lives inside rocks in cold deserts.
    * Lithoautotroph: An organism (usually bacteria) whose sole source of carbon is carbon dioxide and exergonic inorganic oxidation (chemolithotrophs) such as Nitrosomonas europaea. These organisms are capable of deriving energy from reduced mineral compounds like pyrites, and are active in geochemical cycling and the weathering of parent bedrock to form soil.
    * Metalotolerant: capable of tolerating high levels of dissolved heavy metals in solution, such as copper, cadmium, arsenic, and zinc. Examples include Ferroplasma sp. and Ralstonia metallidurans.
    * Oligotroph: An organism capable of growth in nutritionally limited environments.
    * Osmophile: An organism capable of growth in environments with a high sugar concentration.
    * Piezophile: An organism that lives optimally at high hydrostatic pressure. Common in the deep terrestrial subsurface, as well as in oceanic trenches.
    * Polyextremophile: An organism that qualifies as an extremophile under more than one category.
    * Psychrophile/Cryophile: An organism that grows better at temperatures of 15 °C or lower. Common in cold soils, permafrost, polar ice, cold ocean water, and in/under alpine snowpack.
    * Radioresistant: resistant to high levels of ionizing radiation, most commonly ultraviolet radiation but also includes organisms capable of resisting nuclear radiation.
    * Thermophile: An organism that can thrive at temperatures between 60-80 °C.
    * Xerophile: An organism that can grow in extremely dry, desiccating conditions. This type is exemplified by the soil microbes of the Atacama Desert.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophiles
  • Yarnage, on 02/18/2008, -1/+14Unfortunately the cost of getting to Titan and returning enough back would be insane compared to just over-taking another country that has oil.
  • smurfsahoy, on 02/18/2008, -0/+12you need this thing called oxygen to start fires, my friend.
  • sjbdallas, on 02/18/2008, -0/+11Or, the dinosaurs on titan fled to earth after something cause most of them to die.
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -3/+14I disagree. Although most organisms requires water to strive, a few of its kind has manage to live without water and in an extreme-acidic or alkaline solutions. Just to name a few: Extremophiles could live in briny environments ten times saltier than seawater. Another species found in Yellowstone National Park could live off nothing but hydrogen. Psychrophiles, these organisms live in temperatures ranging from 23 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 to 20 degrees Celsius) and use only *methane* to produce energy.

    Reference:
    http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050913_titan ...
  • thebellmaster1x, on 02/18/2008, -0/+11In general, no: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller-urey_experimen ...
    Granted, this experiment used methane as a precursor, but I say "in general" because it shows that more complicated hydrocarbons can be created abiotically.
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -0/+11Don't you EVER forget Poland.
  • shakbhaji, on 02/18/2008, -1/+12This whole string of comments is gold. *****' dugg.
  • ampersand2001, on 02/18/2008, -0/+10I wonder if the titanists will be paid in euros or dollars for their oil? dubai is about to get a lot bigger!!
  • nesibus, on 02/18/2008, -2/+11It WOULD be a lot harder for those extremist to blow up an oil pipeline in outer space....

    "Oil prices surge as meteor hits pipeline for the 100th time this hour, causing space leakage."
  • Ne007, on 02/18/2008, -1/+10THIS JUST IN!

    Titanians are seeking nuclear weapons from Mars. The leader of the Titans, Titana Moonsain, is an evil dictator bent on destruction of the universe. INCLUDING EARTH!

    Preemptive nuclear strike is on the table.
  • positron, on 02/18/2008, -0/+9Polluted oceans will be no problem. We'll just ship fresh ice in from the Kuiper belt.
  • dupswapdrop, on 02/18/2008, -5/+13So how did this happen? Don't you need life to create hydrocarbons?
  • Pfkninenines, on 02/18/2008, -4/+12*Lights a match, and throws it on to Titan*
    /pyro
  • gquaglia, on 02/18/2008, -0/+7Probably cost less then what the 3 buffoons are spending on their quest to be President,
  • XNihil0Zer0, on 02/18/2008, -1/+8 "few of its kind has manage to live without water and in an extreme-acidic or alkaline solutions." Extreme acidic and alkaline solutions still have water with an acidic or basic chemical mixed in. Brine contains water. Chemical reactions necessary for life as we know it can only occur in liquid water. Just because an organism can use hydrogen or methane as an energy source does not mean that it can survive without water. Are there other chemical mechanisms which can produce self replication? maybe, we havent found any yet though.
  • positron, on 02/18/2008, -0/+6Warning: Sarcasm detection unit has lost primary power. Please reroute power from auxiliary systems before further attempts at commenting. Have a nice day.
  • Vorticity, on 02/18/2008, -5/+11Ugh, just what we need...another source of hydrocarbons to help pollute our atmosphere, land, and oceans rather than addressing the actual problem and finding another source of energy that doesn't have a chance of killing us.
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -3/+9don't be silly, God created the Earth 3000 years ago just the way it is now
  • VitriolAndAngst, on 02/18/2008, -0/+5Water has a lot of interesting properties. Anything living on methane would have different properties.
    Life on earth actually started in methane and ammonia -- not oxygen. Oxygen was actually a rogue by-product of a mutant form of Blue-Green Algae (what the oceans are full of today). The oxygen was poisonous to early forms of life -- and the subsequent success of the algae, kept killing off organisms that expelled carbon-dioxide. The earth plummeted into an ice age, and it is theorized that there was only one spot on the globe that did not freeze over.
    From that one spot, we were a few degrees away from being frozen forever (CO2 trapped in ice). There, organisms that use oxygen and expel carbon dioxide first got their start.
    Water, methane, silica -- even on earth, there are organisms that live in environments that are not oxygen-water rich. In fact, there is bacteria found in some lave-rich environments around 800 degrees.
  • VitriolAndAngst, on 02/18/2008, -2/+7My vote, if anyone cares is; please, oh please, don't look to this for energy. About the only way I could think of to ship it back here, would be to convert it to a gaseous form and try to make a "magnetic plasma lift" -- nothing I've ever heard of, but I've pretty sure it could be done. You ionize and use magnetic fields to help push a relatively light mass high enough in the atmosphere and them skim it off with a tethered pipeline. If there were any ecosystem on the planet -- of course, this would destroy it. In space, you would freeze this mass, and then use something like a gun to launch it into a retrograde orbit that would intersect earth. From there, you would have to "catch it" otherwise, the hydrocarbons would be reigning down on earth.

    Meanwhile, our grace period for hydrocarbons would run out, and this would only be sane in a world where we gave up on the environment and had to live in shelters.

    Such an expensive source of oil -- no matter how plentiful, would not be better than conservation and alternative energy on this planet.
  • ackermannc, on 02/18/2008, -0/+5Not if you're from China.
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -1/+6hahaha you made my day.
  • FlashGit, on 02/18/2008, -0/+5and Uranus for the lulz.
  • counterspin, on 02/18/2008, -0/+4...spreading "democracy" to all Titanium citizenry!
  • HaloZero, on 02/18/2008, -0/+4Ed was freaking awesome! bit of a pecuilar end to his story but nonetheless, still awesome.
  • inactive, on 02/18/2008, -2/+6You're dumb even if Titan had 24 carat nuggets for the picking it still wouldn't be worth getting.
  • gquaglia, on 02/18/2008, -0/+4The search for minerals and fuels outside our Earth will be the factor that finally gets the human race out into space permanently. The scientific thing doesn't cut when vast sums of money are need, only corporate greed can do that.
  • LeeSoong, on 02/18/2008, -0/+4w00t, two new his and her 4x4 Hummers, FTW !
  • Sil369, on 02/18/2008, -0/+4On a Wednesday night in October of course.
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