Titan's Lakes in a Beaker
Abstract
The surface of Titan presents a complex, varied surfaced, with mountains, plains, dunes, rivers, lakes and seas, composed of a layer of organics over a water ice bedrock. Over the past 10 years, our group at JPL has developed a variety of techniques to study the chemistry of Titan's organic surface under relevant temperature and pressure conditions (90-100 K, 1.5 bar). Dissolution, precipitation, and both covalent and non-covalent chemical processes are examined using Raman and infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, optical microscopy, and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. Despite the low temperatures, our experiments are revealing that a rich and active organic chemistry is possible on Titan's surface. Laboratory experiments like these can provide crucial insights into the geological processes occurring Titan's surface, and help explain the wealth of observational data returned by the Cassini/Huygens mission. This type of data is also critical for the development of future missions to Titan.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFMSM31C..08H
- Keywords:
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- 5794 Instruments and techniques;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: FLUID PLANETS;
- 5494 Instruments and techniques;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETS;
- 7594 Instruments and techniques;
- SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY;
- 7831 Laboratory studies and experimental techniques;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS