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Titan's surface organics surpass oil reserves on Earth
SpaceRef.com ^ | February 13, 2008 | ESA

Posted on 02/13/2008 11:10:35 AM PST by Brian S. Fitzgerald

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To: KarlInOhio

Ah

I haven’t watch Alien in a while.


41 posted on 02/13/2008 11:28:05 AM PST by wastedyears (This is my BOOMSTICK)
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To: wastedyears
Alien. Film by Ridley Scott. Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) eventually blows up the Nostromo in an effort to destroy the alien that had been inadvertantly picked up while responding to a distress beacon.

In the follow-up movie (Aliens), Ripley is put on trial for the senseless destruction of company property. A company employee (played by Paul Reiser) explains to Ripley that an M-class starfreighter "Is a very expensive piece of equipment".

42 posted on 02/13/2008 11:28:07 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
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To: Brian S. Fitzgerald

Cool!

Here’s what we do...

Fly out there with a gigantic rocket engine that will be powered by the moons hydrocarbons. Light it up, fly it to earth and park it in a geosynchronous orbit, then build the pipeline!


43 posted on 02/13/2008 11:28:17 AM PST by jt2
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To: agere_contra

“can hear you scream.”


44 posted on 02/13/2008 11:28:37 AM PST by wastedyears (This is my BOOMSTICK)
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To: A message
"We?ll be destroying the solar system. No space exploration for oil. /s"

Unfortunately, I don't think the sarcasm tag is fully accurate. There are greenies who would agree with your statement and concepts to trerraform Mars, for instance, have been met with criticism that we shouldn't be altering nature.

45 posted on 02/13/2008 11:28:43 AM PST by Truth29
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To: All
"...dramatic climate change on Titan is likely in its past, present and future..."

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2008/2007GL032118.shtml Abstract

Cassini RADAR observations now permit an initial assessment of the inventory of two classes, presumed to be organic, of Titan surface materials: polar lake liquids and equatorial dune sands. Several hundred lakes or seas have been observed, of which dozens are each estimated to contain more hydrocarbon liquid than the entire known oil and gas reserves on Earth. Dark dunes cover some 20% of Titan's surface, and comprise a volume of material several hundred times larger than Earth's coal reserves. Overall, however, the identified surface inventories (>3 × 104 km3 of liquid, and >2 × 105 km3 of dune sands) are small compared with estimated photochemical production on Titan over the age of the solar system. The sand volume is too large to be accounted for simply by erosion in observed river channels or ejecta from observed impact craters. The lakes are adequate in extent to buffer atmospheric methane against photolysis in the short term, but do not contain enough methane to sustain the atmosphere over geologic time. Unless frequent resupply from the interior buffers this greenhouse gas at exactly the right rate, dramatic climate change on Titan is likely in its past, present and future.

Received 2 October 2007; accepted 26 November 2007; published 29 January 2008.

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L02206, doi:10.1029/2007GL032118, 2008

Titan's inventory of organic surface materials

Ralph D. Lorenz
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA

Karl L. Mitchell
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Randolph L. Kirk
U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

Alexander G. Hayes
Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Oded Aharonson
Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Howard A. Zebker
Departments of Geophysics and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

Phillipe Paillou
UMR 5804, Laboratorie d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, Observatorie Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers, Floirac, France

Jani Radebaugh
Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

Jonathan I. Lunine
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Michael A. Janssen
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Stephen D. Wall
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Rosaly M. Lopes
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Bryan Stiles
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Steve Ostro
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Giuseppe Mitri
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

Ellen R. Stofan
Proxemy Research, Rectortown, Virginia, USA

Keywords: Titan; surface; organics.

Index Terms: 6281 Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Titan; 5470 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Surface materials and properties; 5464 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Remote sensing; 5405 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Atmospheres (0343, 1060).

46 posted on 02/13/2008 11:29:10 AM PST by Brian S. Fitzgerald ("We're going to drag that ship over the mountain.")
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To: edcoil

That’s the first thing I thought. Send up Peter Boyle to run the place and Sean Connery to police it.


47 posted on 02/13/2008 11:29:53 AM PST by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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To: jt2
Not exactly unthought of before. Seriously.

Behold: The Space Elevator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

48 posted on 02/13/2008 11:31:02 AM PST by afortiori
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To: xkaydet65; Brian S. Fitzgerald
By the time we develop the technology to get there and bring it back we won’t need those hydrocarbons anymore.

We could use them on Mars, because it is deficient in hydrogen compared to the Earth.

49 posted on 02/13/2008 11:32:15 AM PST by Paleo Conservative
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To: cizinec
How exactly is it organic?

In chemistry, "organic" means a compound contains carbon plus other elements, especially hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

It's a historical thing.

50 posted on 02/13/2008 11:34:19 AM PST by poindexter
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To: agere_contra

...ever has to say you’re sorry. No. That’s not it.


51 posted on 02/13/2008 11:34:45 AM PST by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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To: Minn
Re: Wouldn’t Algore just love it if we started importing and burning carbon from other planets? It would almost be worth the trouble just to make him even more insane.

Since they started importing that oil from Titan... I cannot eat a thing!

52 posted on 02/13/2008 11:35:44 AM PST by Bender2 ("I've got a twisted sense of humor, and everything amuses me." RAH Beyond this Horizon)
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To: Lurker

That’s what I was thinking too.......


53 posted on 02/13/2008 11:36:12 AM PST by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: Brian S. Fitzgerald
Just to be friendly, we really should warn Titan about AlGore.
54 posted on 02/13/2008 11:36:24 AM PST by LasVegasMac (Islam: Bringing the world death and destruction for 1400 years!)
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To: jt2

“Fly out there with a gigantic rocket engine that will be powered by the moons hydrocarbons. Light it up, fly it to earth and park it in a geosynchronous orbit, then build the pipeline!”

Using cheap Mexican labor!


55 posted on 02/13/2008 11:36:38 AM PST by Hacklehead (Crush the liberals, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the hippies.)
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To: wastedyears
“can hear you scream.”

" ... unless it is the battle cry of the United States Marines."

(Space: Above and Beyond)

56 posted on 02/13/2008 11:37:01 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Rattenschadenfreude: joy at a Democrat's pain, especially Hillary's pain caused by Obama.)
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To: Minn
>>>So does this have any bearing on the debate about whether oil comes from dead plants and animals?<<<

Of course not. Earth Hydrocarbons come from dead dinosaurs and trees. On the other hand, Space Hydrocarbons come from the action of intense heat and pressure on methane, hydrogen and carbon bearing minerals in the deep interior core of the outer planets forcing the resulting liquid toward the surface.

No, it is impossible for this reaction to be sustained in the Earth...otherwise reservoirs would be refilling?........they are? Your kidding aren't you?

57 posted on 02/13/2008 11:37:05 AM PST by HardStarboard (Take No Prisoners - We're Out Of Qurans)
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To: The Louiswu

If you try to get it to Earth.

If, however, you can process it in place, then it becomes an interesting fueling station in the middle of our Solar System.

Finding an oxydizer may be a problem. It’s also kinda cold there.


58 posted on 02/13/2008 11:40:16 AM PST by RinaseaofDs
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To: edcoil

Or, Offworld site.

As long as those pesky replicants can`t sneak back to planet earth.


59 posted on 02/13/2008 11:40:26 AM PST by Para-Ord.45
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To: All
It is self-evident that a pipeline would be impracticable given the distances involved. A more practical solution might be to simply blow Titan out of Saturn's orbit into an orbit around Earth using nuclear weapons and then simply build a pipeline from there.

We could also consider shrinking everyone on earth to reduce our energy usage.

60 posted on 02/13/2008 11:40:35 AM PST by Greg F (I feel a thrill going up my leg when Laura Ingraham speaks. Am I as weird as Chris Matthews?)
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