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Space Science

The Sierras of Titan 167

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the titans-of-titan dept.
eldavojohn writes "Cassini has detected the tallest mountains on Titan, a large moon of Saturn. More importantly, clouds have also been detected in Titan's atmosphere. Why is this news important? Well, as scientists scan the skies for the easiest piece of mass to colonize, things that resemble Earth's geology & atmosphere are going to require the least effort & resources. These mountains mean that Titan may have tectonic plate movement similar in some ways to earth's. From the article, '"You can think of Titan as the Earth in deep freeze," said Dr Rosaly Lopes, Cassini radar team member at the US space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It has a lot of the geological processes that Earth has. In fact, it is more Earth-like than anywhere else in the Solar System. But the surface is very cold; it's about minus 178C."'"
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The Sierras of Titan More

The Sierras of Titan

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  • Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@noSpAM.gmail.com> on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:38PM (#17227158) Journal
    I titled this article "The Sierras of Titan" as a pun for Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s early sci-fi novel 'The Sirens of Titan [wikipedia.org]." The book means a lot to me so I heavily recommend it but before you mod me offtopic, let me explain why Vonnegut picked Titan, of all the mass in the galaxy.

    There have been experiments on the abundant chemicals [wikipedia.org] on Titan [wikipedia.org] done by astronautical & nuclear engineer Robert Zubrin [wikipedia.org] who has been quite influential in the proliferation of humans to other pieces of mass ASAP.

    While you may be able to argue that these experiments were too early or had inherent flaws within them, they were done to try to prove that a "chemical revolution" could occur on Titan similar to what we theorize happened on earth early on. I haven't heard many people address the fact that it could have taken billion of years to progress on earth but I am quite interested to see if there is a way to engineer bacteria to break methane down into oxygen or some other gas that we could potentially exploit to make oxygen.

    As you may have seen in other media, Titan is often used [wikipedia.org] because of these experiments. It's a bit of a romantic dream but these mountains are just a little more to add to the possibility.

    Oh, I also forgot to include a link to the Cassini-Huygens mission [esa.int] which has images, videos, wallpapers and all that jazz of Titan and its mountains.

    • Not a good place to colonize (Score:4, Interesting)

      by EccentricAnomaly ( 451326 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:49PM (#17227364) Homepage
      Titan is not a good place to colonize because it is cold.... cold, cold, cold. Not only would you have to keep your colony on Xanadu warm from the cold, but you'd have to keep your warmth in or you would melt through the surface (which is 'rocks' made up of water ice). When Huygens landed it evaporated a cloud of frozen methane just from its measly heat... a whole colony would probably touch off a cryovolcano eruption.

      Titan isn't a good place to live, but it is an awesome place to explore. Imagine a hot air balloon flying over these mountains and the lakes and rivers and the giant sand dune seas. Without UV from the sun to degrade the balloon's envelope and with plutonium to heat up the air inside such a balloon could last pretty much forever.... or at least until the plutonium is used up.

      • Re:Not a good place to colonize (Score:4, Interesting)

        by b0s0z0ku ( 752509 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:59PM (#17227536)
        you would melt through the surface (which is 'rocks' made up of water ice).

        Two possible solutions:

        (1) restrict the inside of the colony to 0C. Not unthinkable - keep in mind that the native peoples of the Arctic used to live in ice houses. Place a nuclear reactor on stilts on top of the ice layer and transmit power to the colony using electricity or even insulated steam piping.

        (2) how deep is the ice layer? Melt through and place the colony either in a pit or at the bottom of a columnar artificial lake with an access tunnel to the surface.

        -b.

        • You can insulate things so that the rate of heat loss is the same as the rate of heat that can be taken away by the wind. Effectively spreading your warmth over the whole planet and not just on the part under you. Still, this is not an easy thing to do.

        • Re:Not a good place to colonize (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Rei ( 128717 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:55PM (#17228480) Homepage
          0C isn't enough. There's large amounts of other frozen hydrocarbons in the soil as well.

          The Earth analog -- a simpler challenge, but a challenge nonetheless -- is permafrost. If you build a house on the ground in many parts of Alaska, your foundation will crack as you slowly melt the permafrost beneath you. One solution is to build the house on stilts to leave an airspace beneath you. A more extreme option is used by the trans-alaska pipeline, which has heated fluids moving through it. Parts of the pipine are supported by columns that contain ammonia and extend into the permafrost. In the summer, the permafrost loses heat as usual, but in the winter, they get a cycle of ammonia boiling off in the permafrost, rising, cooling on the radiators, and descending to chill the permafrost down. They basically store up their summer heat during the winter.

          Oh, and the ice on Titan is extremely deep. Much of the planet, actually.
      • I agree with you compltely. To expand I also take issue with this sentace in the origianl story submission:
        things that resemble Earth's geology & atmosphere are going to require the least effort & resources.
        I'm sorry butif Titan has an Earth like geology wouldn't that make it a reason to avoid it. If it has quakes like Earth then you have to worry about making your colony survive those two. And if teh atmosphere is not friendly to humans (it's not) then getting a crack in your building is going to

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ryanvm ( 247662 )
        you'd have to keep your warmth in or you would melt through the surface (which is 'rocks' made up of water ice).

        Man, just imagine the global warming FUD you'd have to put up with in a Titanese colony...

        [So long karma.]
        • > Man, just imagine the global warming FUD you'd have to put up with in a Titanese colony...

          "People of Titan: if we do not change things, in another nearly 200 degrees Celsius, we're going to have a major problem."

      • Re:Not a good place to colonize (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Rei ( 128717 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @05:02PM (#17228572) Homepage
        I saw a review of proposed methods to explore Titan. They considered balloons (not hot air -- helium. Keeping air hot would use too much energy), blimps, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and non-fixed wing aircraft. Power was assumed to be from an RTG (radiothermal generator). Balloons were cheapest, but gave you no control over your route. Blimps were next cheapest and gave you route control, but were still very slow. Helicopters gave you fast movement, and were seen as an attractive propsect. They cannot stay aloft all the time, but simply fly for a few hours, land, and study the surface/communicate with Earth while the RTGs recharge their flight batteries. Fixed-wing aircraft were argued against because they would be subject to the same constraints, but couldn't land safely. Non-fixed wing aircraft were seen as the best, although most expensive, option. They can land safely for recharging like a helicopter, but can move at much higher speeds, thus allowing the probe to cover more ground.

        One thing noted for all landings was that they would essentially have to be autonomous. You don't have the luxury of having a human review landing sites because the latency is too long for the vehicle to wait for you to tell it where to go. So, it will involve software that picks terrain features that look "interesting". Humans can tell it which way to go when it leaves next, and modify its priorities for what it views as "interesting", but the actual choice will be up to the craft.

        I can't wait to see a mission like this get underway. :)
        • They considered balloons (not hot air -- helium. Keeping air hot would use too much energy), blimps, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and non-fixed wing aircraft. Power was assumed to be from an RTG (radiothermal generator).

          If you're using an RTG for power, why not just use the waste heat to make your hot air? RTG's produce way more heat than power (they aren't very efficient)

      • Not only would you have to keep your colony on Xanadu warm from the cold, but you'd have to keep your warmth in or you would melt through the surface

        What's the big deal? Build your colony on huge stilts to keep it physically separated from the surface.

    • There have been experiments on the abundant chemicals on Titan done by astronautical & nuclear engineer Robert Zubrin who has been quite influential in the proliferation of humans to other pieces of mass ASAP.

      Unhappily, the long term effects of his 'influence' have been mostly negative. It doesn't take long for most people to figure out that he's an egotistical asshole whose 'science' consists mostly of handwaving, vague and incomplete analysis, and wishful thinking.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by vought ( 160908 )
      "Sierras" is not a word - at best, it's Englishified Spanish, often used by those who don't understand what they're talking about.

      TFA refers to a range of mountains on Titan. The correct usage would be Sierra, the term for a range of mountains in Spanish.

      As a photographer and snow sports person, this is a just a simple pet peeve, but the usage is exanding, and for those who know what Sierra means, "Sierras" grates on the ears. Sierra is already plural in Spanish - no need to add an s.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geobeck ( 924637 )

      ...Robert Zubrin who has been quite influential in the proliferation of humans to other pieces of mass...

      I wholeheartedly endorse Robert Zubrin's goals. In fact, I take every opportunity to proliferate myself to other pieces of...

      Oh, wait a minute. Didn't see the 'm'. Never mind.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by barakn ( 641218 )
      I am quite interested to see if there is a way to engineer bacteria to break methane down into oxygen or some other gas that we could potentially exploit to make oxygen.
      I'd be very interested to see if there's a way to engineer bacteria to perform nuclear reactions too, but it's not going to happen.

  • A long drive (Score:2, Funny)

    by t00le ( 136364 )
    I can only imagine my son kicking the back of my chair for 6 years on the flight there....

  • So... (Score:5, Funny)

    by gt_mattex ( 1016103 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:40PM (#17227210)
    ...it's warmer than mid-winter Minnesota then?

  • Water Ice (Score:4, Informative)

    by Ford Prefect ( 8777 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:41PM (#17227218) Homepage
    ... But Titan's crust is made out of water ice. If you were to take it out of the deep-freeze and bring it to a comfortable, Earth-like temperature - it would melt.

    While surface features may be analogous to those found here on Earth, they're made out of entirely different things...
    • I was going to suggest that we simply move Titan closer to the sun...you know...with a rocket or something
      • The perfect solution of what to do with SUV drivers! Let them tool around Titan causing it to warm considerably*, the fires they cause when they inevitably get into accidents will only help! Then the rest of us who don't drive behemoth resource guzzling vehicles can continue to live in peace.

        *I know this isn't how global warming works, it's a joke :P

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Rei ( 128717 )
        And Titan is only.. you know... 134,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 (134.5 septillion) kilograms in mass.
    • ... But Titan's crust is made out of water ice. If you were to take it out of the deep-freeze and bring it to a comfortable, Earth-like temperature - it would melt.
      Seriously. One wonders if the only requirements for being defined as "most earthlike" were liquid precipitation and active alluvial erosion.

  • Cold you say? Why thats nothing (Score:5, Funny)

    by arcite ( 661011 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:41PM (#17227230)
    Send the Canadians to Colonize. I used to live in Northern Canada and walked to school in -30C weather with a -40C windchill --uphill and in the dark! Titan should be a cake-walk. Just make sure to send lots of beer and women to uhhhh compensate.
  • I think we should name them the Kazak Mountains.

    Or the Winston Range.

  • Cold, and HOT too, right? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ScentCone ( 795499 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:46PM (#17227312)
    The cold isn't the only thing that would-be colonists would be facing, right? Don't the gas giants have some helacious radiation belts? I seem to recall that Titan is sitting right in the middle of one, too. Perhaps a pro can chime in on that. Sure, we could warm up a nice little ice cave and whatnot, but would all that ice also be a worthy shield against the EM nastiness?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by khallow ( 566160 )
      You also have Titan's atmosphere. It's denser than Earth's atmosphere. That should be enough, me thinks.

    • No radiaiton at Saturn (Score:5, Informative)

      by EccentricAnomaly ( 451326 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:01PM (#17227586) Homepage
      Saturn's rings effectively neutralize most radiation at Saturn... it's not much of a hazard at all. What little radiation there is wouldn't get through Titan's atmosphere anyway.

      The only two planets with substantial radiation belts are Jupiter and Earth (i.e. the Van Allen belts). At Jupiter Io and Europa are in the belts, Callisto is too far out, and Ganymede has its own magnetic field that would protect spacecraft near it from the radiation.

      BTW, the sort of radiation in these belts are electrons and energetic ions of regular stuff like Hydrogen and Oxygen. Not neutrons.... which makes it a little easier to protect against.

  • Resembles Earth? No way! (Score:4, Informative)

    by khallow ( 566160 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:50PM (#17227398)

    Why is this news important? Well, as scientists scan the skies for the easiest piece of mass to colonize, things that resemble Earth's geology & atmosphere are going to require the least effort & resources.

    Titan's atmosphere and general environment doesn't resemble Earth in the least. Hence, this sentence makes no sense. We've already found the few pieces places that are easiest to terraform, namely Mars, Venus, and perhaps Europa. Anything in orbit around Saturn won't qualify as "easiest", just because of temperature and energy flux from the Sun. You would need to find a long term energy source to heat the moon up to temperatures at which liquid water exists and and to enable photosynthesis . Either Titan gets moved or you make a local energy source. Terraforming the Moon is probably as easy.

    Also, implied is confusion between colonization and terraforming. People can settle Titan, but they probably aren't going to make it Earth-like. In which case, any plate techtonics and geological activity may be very undesirable.
    • Either Titan gets moved or you make a local energy source. Terraforming the Moon is probably as easy.

      Nahh, simply push that gas giant over the edge so she ignites into a second small star in the solar system.

      quite easy, just start flinging crap into it until the mass get's high enough to start up the furnace.

      Sheesh, you science types have to make everything so difficult.
    • Actually, Titan's atmosphere is the most similar to Earth's of any body in the solar system. Titan is the only other body in the solar system with an atmosphere primarily composed of nitrogen (around 80-90%) and with a similar pressure (1.5 bar to our 1 bar). It just happens to be really really cold there.

  • Ice mountains (Score:2, Insightful)

    by bkg_cjb ( 952573 )
    Right, there are mountains...ice mountains, not rock. I don't see what this "similarity" does for humans.

  • Heating (Score:5, Funny)

    by coldtone ( 98189 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:55PM (#17227478)
    Well If there is one thing humans can do, it's heat up a planet!
    • Well that solves the NASA funding quandry... Just get the big SUV makers to sponser it, and we can all pile into the first space-hummer off this rock.
  • Earth First... We will log the other planets later. It may be true eh?

  • Cold? No problem! (Score:3, Funny)

    by milimetric ( 840694 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @03:59PM (#17227544) Journal
    Hey, global warming is what we're good at people. Lets attach a big heat tube from the earth to Titan.

  • Antarctica is a lot warmer (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mi ( 197448 ) <slashdot-2017q4@virtual-estates.net> on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:00PM (#17227576) Homepage Journal
    But the surface is very cold; it's about minus 178C.

    It is a lot warmer in Antarctica and the easy-to-reach place has plenty of oxygen and water. If we really are running out of room, the continent should be colonized first...

    Heck, if the "Global Warming" fear-mongering is even partially true, the continent will only become better — and it already is much better than any extra-terrestrial body.

    That no settlements (as in "villages", not science labs) exist even on this much more habitable place is just a sign, how far off space colonization really is... I think, some South America's country(ies) tried to pay people to live there (just to claim territory, pretty much), but it still failed...

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )
      IT's also protected by treaty.
      And having the area around you melt away why trying to ahve a regular town is not a good thing.
      Yes I KNOW there is land undernither, I'm talking about the ice bits.

      Putting humans off planet help give a chance for the species to survive and thrive.
      • That no settlements (as in "villages", not science labs) exist even on this much more habitable place is just a sign, how far off space colonization really is...

        IT's also protected by treaty.

        Even before it was protected by treaty there was no great rush by people to settle there. It's simply too inhospitable.
    • It's not so much that we're running out of room. It's that the the process of making Antarctica more hospitable will raise sea levels, effectively destroying coastlines the world over.
    • No one would move to Titan for the space. The reason for colonization of Titan is 1) to establish a base in the Saturn system and 2) to facilitate mining the bodies in the Saturn system for natural resources, especially H3 (used in fusion).

      It's the same reason people live in ugly mining towns; not because it's a nice place to live, but because there's a paycheck.

      For the forseeable future, colonization of other planets and moons won't be for the purpose of spreading large numbers of humans across the solar

  • All these worlds are yours... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thedaven ( 923502 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:01PM (#17227602)
    Except Europa
  • now if sould moce it closer to the sun.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )
      ok, I need to stop talking to one person, and typing something else at the same time.

      "now if sould moce it closer to the sun."
      should be:
      Now if we could only move it closer to the sun.

  • Earth in deep freeze... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by misleb ( 129952 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:12PM (#17227802)
    Whenever someone brings up colonizing another planet, I can't help but wonder "why?" Yes, there is the novelty factor of being able to do it. But how practical is it? What is the objective? Would we do it to preserve the species? From what? An asteriod hitting Earth and turning it into a wasteland? Could Earth possibly be any worse than Titan... or even Mars... in that case?

    Think about it. What is the best Earth alternative we could realistically hope to find?

    Want to colonize "Earth in Deep Freeze?" Antarctica isn't too far away. If nothing else, it has plenty of water and even oil. And if Global Warming gets as bad as some fear it might, Antarctica might not end up being such a bad place! Or what about colonizing the bottom on the ocean? Certainly that would be easier than traveling half way across the solar system... or farther.

    Seems to me that Earth would have to be all but vaporized for it to be much worse than any place you could find in outer space.

    -matthew

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by geekoid ( 135745 )
      1) there are many catastropgies that would make life living here riskier then it is now.

      2) The technology needed to go to other planets and make the livable would help us with understanding what needs to be down here to make things nicers.

      3) As we expand our knowledge, we may find earth like planets, and having a technology base for travelling through space will be a very good thing.

      4) It's cool

      5) Contrary to what most people spout off, the space program generate new business and more taxdollars then it co

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Itchyeyes ( 908311 )
      I imagine a lot of the same questions were asked when we first started the space program. "Why even go into space?" I mean, it's just a vast nothingness right? There are plenty of place on earth that remain to be explored, like deep oceans and the rain forests."

      50 years later we have massive improvements in telecommunications, accurate weather forecasting, GPS, major breakthroughs in solar power, and a whole host of other new technologies that we discovered along the way. As with most science, you don't

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by misleb ( 129952 )
        Don't get me wrong, I am all for exploration and research in space. I think there is a lot to learn. It is just that there is a difference between exploration and colonization. We're a long way from actually colonizing anything outside of Earth. It doesn't make much sense to start thinking of locations in terms of colonization unless there is some real practical drive for it. When really, there isn't.

        -matthew

        • It doesn't make much sense to start thinking of locations in terms of colonization unless there is some real practical drive for it.

          One of the smartest people alive, Professor Stephen Hawking, has recently stated that we should be colonizing other planets [iht.com]. He seems to think there is a practical drive for it - I would tend to trust his judgment in this matter over a random /. poster.

    • I just replied to someone else here with the same questions. The type of colonization being proposed here isn't for large numbers of humans to move off-world permanently; it's just to establish bases for scientific research and mining. There's unimaginable quantities of natural resources available in the solar system, ranging from valuable metals to H3 which is used for nuclear fusion. Just like some people will temporarily live someplace crappy so they can get a nice paycheck from working in a mine, som

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Chosen Reject ( 842143 )
      Because we want to live in a fantasy world. Look, we've done Western, we've done modern, we've done World War II. Now all we have left is Fantasy or Science Fiction. While we may be far from faster than light travel, or building our own gravity in space ships, we are certainly more likely to live out the Science Fiction life style than Fantasy. We have no elves, trolls, orc, hobbits, or dragons (WHERE ARE ALL THE DRAGONS?!). So colonizing the moon will get us oh so closer to Cat-Women of the Moon. [badmovies.org]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by delong ( 125205 )
      Could Earth possibly be any worse than Titan... or even Mars... in that case?

      Yes, it could get much worse. A not-very-large rock hitting the Earth could liquify the entire surface of the planet. How's that for getting much worse?
  • So we move Titan and put it in orbit at 93 million miles from the sun, in the same orbital path as the Earth, but on the opposite side of the sun. Do I have to do ALL the thinking here!?!?

    But Seriously -- someday we'll really do this. Or at least try

  • Space Shuttle @ Station (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stevesliva ( 648202 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:19PM (#17227918) Journal
    In other news, they're troubleshooting a flaky solar panel up on the space station: Live status [spaceflightnow.com]
  • Oh, wow! Earth has earthquakes. Titan has earth... er titanquakes. THEY'RE BOTH ALIKE! LET'S COLONIZE!

  • Sign me up! (Score:4, Funny)

    by PingSpike ( 947548 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:20PM (#17227932)
    -178c temperatures and highly poisonous hydrogen cyanide gas...I'd be surprised if there were any people left on earth once we figure out how to fly them onto to this thing!

    Has anyone started sellings plots of Titan moon land yet?

  • Interesting find... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Kranfer ( 620510 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:21PM (#17227950) Homepage Journal
    While I find this interesting, it is nothing new to see mountains on planetary objects besides Earth. The thing I find most interesting is the organic compounds that have been found/thought to be on Titan. It makes a very interesting spot to create a waystation in the distand future. Titan, and well as Io and Europia are very interesting moons that we should explore more. But I doubt the American public is very willing to fund more in depth explorations of these places... I can only hope. Although, I wonder what the new probe on its way to Pluto will find.
    • I don't have too much hope for the Pluto probe finding much of anything scientifically worth while -- but as an American I am definitely interested and willing to fund more in depth explorations of Titan, Io, and Europa. Take the 100 Billion USD or so from the wars on drugs and for oil and put it directly into the space program. (Or, better, return it to the economy directly.)
    • No way man, we'll use the current plan, which is as follows:

      1.) Detonate ancient pyramid in Central America
      2.) Colonize Mars
      3.) Convert Phobos into a giant spacecraft
      4.) Let some 300 years pass
      5.) Get saved from the Pfhor by a rampant AI (thanks, Durandal!)
      6.) ???
      7.) Get thoroughly beaten up by the Covenant, blow up a couple space rings

      It's the Seven Step Plan To Get Our World Dominated By Someone Else and we're going to stick to it!
  • So, we're looking for a planetoid that moves, because that makes building a permanent settlement easier? Oh, yeah, I'd love to set up a new colony in a place that has the stability of Loma Prieta [wikipedia.org].

  • Um....wha? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:23PM (#17227992) Journal
    "Well, as scientists scan the skies for the easiest piece of mass to colonize, things that resemble Earth's geology & atmosphere are going to require the least effort & resources."

    That's a rather meaningless (or outright WRONG) statement.

    Mars: tectonically dead or nearly so. Dust storms but no real analogue to Earthly seas, precipitation, or geological processes. Ability to colonize? Relatively easy.

    Titan: mountains, clouds, precipitation, "seas", etc. Ability to colonize? Extremely difficult.

    Similarity to Earthly processes is meaningless. There are plenty of Earthly processes that make things HARDER, not easier.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Vreejack ( 68778 )
      True. The moon is even easier to colonize, due to its proximity and the fact that it has no weather of its own to speak of. The availability of water might make a difference between Mars and the moon, but so far the data is incomplete.
    • "There are plenty of Earthly processes that make things HARDER, not easier."

      Here we are having a nice scientific discussion, and you had to bring PORN into it. Sheesh
  • "It has a lot of the geological processes that Earth has. In fact, it is more Earth-like than anywhere else in the Solar System. But the surface is very cold; it's about minus 178C."

    Isn't that a little like saying the bodies in the morgue are better friends than anyone else I know ?

    They're friendly, they'll sit there and listen to me for hours, they're just a little cold on the surface.

  • Higher Than Highest (Score:3, Informative)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Wednesday December 13, 2006 @04:56PM (#17228486) Homepage Journal
    '"One could call them Titan's Sierras," the University of Arizona-Tucson researcher [ET explorer Bob Brown] added.'

    I get the Vonnegut pun in "The Sierras of Titan". But none of "the" Sierras [wikipedia.org] are even the tallest in the US (or North America). Alaska's Mt McKinley [wikipedia.org] is taller. While Everest [wikipedia.org] (and over 100 others) in the Himalayas [wikipedia.org] are taller than any in the Andes [wikipedia.org] from their somewhat arbitrary base, the equatorial Andes start at the 26mi "high" equatorial bulge.

    So Aconcagua [wikipedia.org], the tallest of the Andes, is the farthest peak jutting into space. Aconcagua rises the highest from the Marianas Trench [wikipedia.org], the lowest point in the Earth's crust, atop the equatorial bulge. Thus it is the closest to our solar neighbor (at least half the time, during its rotation with the Earth, anyway).

    One might better call them "los Andes de Titan", or whatever that translates to in the whistle/crackle language spoken on Titan.
    • I wonder if the Titanians have folk CDs entitled "Vientos del metano de los Andes"
    • Actually, Mt Chimborazo [wikipedia.org] rises the highest into space, as the equatorial bulge is steeper than the ground at the "base" between Chimborazo and Aconcagua.

      I'm fascinated by the fact that the closest approach to Earth from space is the crater mouth of an (extinct) volcano. It's almost like a docking interface.
  • Isn't it basically ALL clouds, or does the red haze not count?

    And like a tree falling in a forest, if you have a cloud inside a thick haze, would anyone notice?
  • ..The Tetons of Titan!
  • So let's say we put a tether on Titan and attached an ion drive. How many years would it take to move it out of orbit around Jupiter and into an orbit around, and closer to, the sun? I'm not too picky about the temperature personally, but below -150C... well, let's put it this way: Have you ever heard about how using hairspray to make a flamethrower can cause the can to explode? Well something similar happens when you try to pee at extremely low temperatures. I just don't want to rupture any internal
    • And to all the naysayers, obviously I know Titan is in orbit around Saturn right now.. I meant after we moved it to Jupiter.

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