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> Titan is the richest laboratory in the solar system for studying prebiotic chemistry Does that mean prebiotic environment + time != biotic environment? Is t
by mbenjaminsmith 12y ago
> Titan is the richest laboratory in the solar system for studying prebiotic chemistry
Does that mean prebiotic environment + time != biotic environment?
Is this NASA being conservative and managing expectations?
I'm probably incorrect in assuming this but given our current theories about abiogenesis you would think either the environment isn't viably pre-biotic or it would be full on biotic by now.
If it is, say, quasi-prebiotic wouldn't that make it much less valuable for study if the goal is to understand the origin of life?
I think this suggests they're either downplaying the mission as a search for life or overstating the value of studying the moon as a "prebiotic" environment.
- Figs 12y agoI think all they mean by "prebiotic" is that Titan is similar to models that scientists have proposed for what the Earth might have been like before there was life (assuming abiogenesis) -- i.e. it has weather, complex hydrocarbon compounds, etc.
- fhars 12y agoThat is one of the questions this mission is intended to contribute to. Yes, the current theories would expect that, but they would also expect the observable universe to be swarming with intelligent life, which it doesn't (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox). We are still looking for the Great Filter, and if Titan is still viably pre-biotic but lifeless, it would point to the optimisitc outlook that life is less common than thought and that the filter may actually be in our past. If, on the other hand, there is independent complex life on titan, things look less good for us, as that points to a Great Filter later in the development of life.
- kalms 12y ago"... swarming with intelligent life, which it doesn't ..." And you know this, how? The universe is a pretty big place.