Recent research indicates that Titan, Saturn's largest moon, possesses an atmosphere 1.5 times denser than Earth's, despite being only 40% of Earth's diameter. Dr. Kelly Miller from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) led a study published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, revealing that walking on Titan would resemble scuba diving due to its unique atmospheric conditions.
Titan's atmosphere is primarily composed of 95% nitrogen and 5% methane, raising questions about its origins and longevity. Methane's breakdown by sunlight would typically deplete it within 30 million years, suggesting the need for an internal replenishment mechanism. Miller emphasized, 'The presence of methane is critical to the existence of Titan's atmosphere.'
A theoretical paper authored by Miller in 2019 proposed that gases from Titan's interior are responsible for replenishing methane. This model suggests that complex organic materials in Titan's rocky core, when heated, release nitrogen and carbon gases, including methane, into the atmosphere.
Recent laboratory experiments validated this hypothesis by simulating Titan's interior conditions. Researchers heated organic materials to temperatures between 250 and 500 degrees Celsius under high pressure, successfully generating sufficient carbon gases to maintain Titan's atmospheric composition.
These findings are supported by data from NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission, which explored the Saturn system from 2004 to 2017. Future investigations will be conducted by NASA's Dragonfly mission, scheduled for launch in 2028. This quadcopter spacecraft aims to explore Titan's surface and evaluate its potential for habitability, particularly its subsurface ocean, with Miller collaborating on this international effort.