On January 14, 2005, the European Space Agency’s Huygens lander landed on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. For decades, planetary science experts have been wondering if some kind of life could have developed on this moon. In fact, it is the only object in the Solar System – in addition to the Earth – in which precipitation occurs and that has active seas and lakes on its surface, although, yes, not water, but liquid hydrocarbons .
The presence of H2O is considered an essential condition for the appearance of life as we know it. In fact, the exoplanets that arouse the most interest are those found in the so-called habitability zone, a region of the system located just the right distance from the star for liquid water to settle on its surface. This is not possible on Titan – although it is believed that it could host an underground ocean of that compound -, where maximum temperatures are around 180 ° C below zero. Well, a team of researchers from Cornell University, in the US, indicates that, despite this, the prebiotic chemical reactions necessary for life to emerge could occur.
To determine this, they carried out a computer simulation from the data sent by the aforementioned Huygens probe . In an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , these scientists point out that when solar radiation reaches Titan’s atmosphere, made up mostly of nitrogen and methane, hydrocyanic acid is formed, a compound that reacts with certain molecules to form polymers, such as polyimine.
This substance favors molecular mobility even in very cold environments and can absorb solar energy, which is why the researchers believe that it would function as a catalyst for the development of life . What’s more, hydrocyanic acid has been found in surface sediments, deposited there by methane and ethane rains that occur in this world.
The researchers, coordinated by the chemist Martin Rahm, from the aforementioned US institution, suspect that under these conditions some type of non-water-based life could emerge, or at least give the necessary reactions to do so. However, they indicate that more observations are needed, as the discovery of a prebiotic chemistry on Titan would be an important advance in astrobiology .
Image: ESA
