Strange and Intriguing Facts about Titan

Thanks for stopping by. I wanted to share with you more facts I've uncovered about Titan.

Here's my favorite fact: 

There is strong evidence that Titan is not originally from our Solar System. Our Solar System is not old enough for Titan’s nitrogen isotope ratio to have changed as much as it has. It seems more similar to Oort cloud comets than to Solar System bodies. (PS. The oort cloud is hypothetical, but still they think this STRONG evidence.) 

Personally, I love this strong hypothetical evidence. 

Why? Because it opens up so many angles for my novel. 

We already have a space ship calling itself the moon PAN mining the outer gap of Saturn's disc. But Cassini has up-close pictures and it's an 18 mile wide space ship.

So here's a thought: when they sent the spaceship to Saturn, did they also send a planet from the elusive Oort Cloud so their species could get off the ship and take a leave when needed? 

Sounds reasonable to me.

And if they are methane based people, then they'll want it really cold. Otherwise, they will become vaporous.

So I expect the sentients like really cold vacation spots. It's -290 degress on Titan, give or take a bit depending which pole you prefer. The south pole is warmer, but the North Pole has more lakes....METHANE lakes. But that makes sense.

For a sentient creature to evolve, they need liquid flowing through their body. Not a problem. While on earth our methane is a gas, on Titan, it is so cold that methane is mostly a liquid. 

Thus, life on Titan, and the people in the giant ship are likely to be methane-based rather than water based. The only reason why my human people can survive on Titan is because they "live" on their ship, and when they go out, they wear a climate controlled suit with a clear face shield. 

They considered just wearing a mouth and nose mask since the air pressure is actually heavier than earth's, so no chance of an exploding head. However, a mask would still be a freezingly bad idea. It seems wiser to have the suit protect them from freezing or suffocating. 

And since the air pressure is actually heavier than on earth,  no will explode out of their skin, even if the suit gets a tear. 

Okay, that wouldn't happen, but they could die quickly if they don't get the suit patched up. Their skin could freeze & die, or they could lose their oxygen and suffocate.

Titan is like (and unlike) earth...

Titan has a global circulation pattern in which warm air in the summer hemisphere wells up from the surface and enters the stratosphere, slowly making its way to the winter pole. There, the air mass sinks back down, cooling as it descends, which allows the stratospheric methane clouds to form.

(It's rather like earth except for the ingredients involved.)

Gravity is only 14% of Earth’s gravity.

Which means you need to look out for the high winds!!! It could blow you into a lake of methane. This is why I have my peeps, especially the kids wear heavy boots. It's not that I think they'll 'float' away, but rather fly away due to the wind.

But hold on. With the gravity so low, the winds crossing the lakes should create massive waves, but Cassini found the lakes to be flat...what's up?

Here's my theory:

There are other liquids in the lake, not just methane and some of these liquids rise to the top and create a thick, almost, but not quite rubbery covering that keeps the wind from lifting all the methane into the air, where it would fall back as frozen rain. (The other option is that it's frozen on top.)

While some methane does escape into the air, most remains safely uynder the natural tarp it has over it.

This will become an issue soon for my people, because they need to create water and oxygen from the methane. (Yep, that can be done)

Methane can be transformed into C20 and H2O (real water). Then through electrolysis, H2O can be turned into Oxygen and Hydrogen.

And a few other interest facts:

Sunlight is only 1% of Earth’s Sun’s intensity

and by the time it gets through the haze of the planet, it can be .1%. Clearly, head-lights must be worn whatever time of the day you step out

Over time, humans will alter. Based on our space station analysis, they incur changes even in a single year.

However, much of the issues of swelling heads and squishy eyes is due to the blood gathering in the head in zero gravity Space.

Luckily, Titan has a bit of gravity (14% of earth's gravity) plus a heavier atmosphere (which is presently unbreathable). So the impact of swollen head might take longer to develop, but the gravity is significantly less, so it should still occur. 

That means we'll eventually look like this:

Yep...that'll be fun, won't it?

To be honest, she looks kind to me. I think it's the soft blue squishy eyes that makes me think she's gentle and sweet.

This series will be released in 2018,
if I live that long. With Trump, who knows...
Book 1 is written, 
Book 2 is currently being written.
I had to wait many years to work on book 2 because frankly, I needed accurate data about Titan first.