• Question: Is it possible to live on Jupiters moon, Titan, because according to Brian Cox we could...

    Asked by lcfcjackjohn to Mark, Paul, Sarah on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Paul Roche

      Paul Roche answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Well, if we had a safe place to live, like in a space ship or a specially constructed base under the surface, we could live anywhere. Titan is a very interesting place to visit, and may be like the Earth was about 3 billion years ago – but it is a very long way from Earth (years to get there, and years to get back if you wanted to come home….), and would be quite a difficult place to survive on. Sunlight is very weak that far out in the solar system, so solar power is not much good, and getting enough air and water to live would require a lot of machinery to convert the local chemicals (lots of methane on Titan) into useful materials.

      I think we will have bases on the Moon, then Mars, long before we get out to Titan – but maybe in a few hundred years, people will live out there?

    • Photo: Mark Roberts

      Mark Roberts answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Titan is a moon of saturn as far as I recall and looking at the atmosphere, tempterature etc then the answer is probably yes if we were able to produce oxygen (the atmosphere is mainly nitrogen) so that we were able to breathe

      So yes we could live there but we might have to live in buildings all the time and not go outside!

      that said there are HUGE technical challenges in doing such a thing – the fact we don’t currently live in our nearest neighbour the moon shows how hard it is. So whilst possible – it wont happen for years

      Another interesting point would be that titan might have alien life! or at least alien bacteria as the environment would be suitable for earth like life to form

    • Photo: Sarah Bardsley

      Sarah Bardsley answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      Isn’t Titan of Saturn’s moons? Anyway, research shows that it could be one of the best targets for colonisation. It was enough gravity to keep us grounded. It was many resources that we could use, potentially including water – an absolute must for us! It could also protect us from solar radiation and solar winds which would otherwise cause us many health problems and logistical issues. So yeah, one day maybe!

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