As per the findings distributed in the latest edition of the journal Icarus, NASA’s Cassini Mission has brought to light new proof of a real sea inside Titan, Saturn’s biggest moon.
The study suggests that the ocean is likely a very salty brine of water blended with dissolved salts presumably made up of sulfur, sodium and potassium.
Cassini spacecraft conveys the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe touched base in the Saturn framework on June 30, 2004.
Titan continues to prove itself as an endlessly fascinating world, and with our long-lived Cassini spacecraft, we’re unlocking new mysteries as fast as we solve old ones,” posited Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s JPL in Pasadena, California.
“This is an extremely salty ocean by Earth standards,” remarked lead author, Giuseppe Mitri of the University of Nantes in France. “Knowing this may change the way we view this ocean as a possible abode for present-day life, but conditions might have been very different there in the past.”
Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist, concluded: “Titan continues to prove itself an endlessly fascinating world. With our long-lived Cassini spacecraft, we’re unlocking new mysteries as fast as we solve old ones.”
“It’s one of the most successful (space) missions probably ever,” says University of Toronto astrophysicist Hanno Rein, whose own work has been significantly informed by the tiny craft’s output.
Jesse Rogerson, a Ph.D. candidate in astrophysics at York University, has followed the Cassini project for years and says it’s been revolutionary for our understanding of the sixth planet.
The data also showed that the thickness of Titan’s outer ice shell varies slightly from place to place. The study is distributed in the latest edition of the Icarus journal.
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