• Question: Can we live on the moon of Saturn called Titan

    Asked by Bartosz to Daniel, Hannah, Maggie, Ry, Scott on 8 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Hannah Middleton

      Hannah Middleton answered on 8 Nov 2017:


      Maybe! Some people think that Titan might be quite suitable for a space colony because it has some of the elements useful to life, which could be used by humans. That makes it one of the least hostile places in the Solar System for human life. But Titan has a lower gravity than the Moon, so people living there would become weaker over time, like astronauts do when they visit the space station. So if people lived on Titan for long periods of time, then they would struggle to adapt if they came back to the stronger gravity on the Earth.

    • Photo: Ry Cutter

      Ry Cutter answered on 8 Nov 2017:


      Hannah’s covered it all. There is also the Ethical question of what do we do if there was already life there? Scientists are starting to think about making an international council about how we deal with interacting with extraterrestrial life. Most people think that if we contaminate these habitable places we could wipe out entire ecosystems. A satellite was recently crashed into Saturn’s surface as to avoid contaminating it’s moons!
      Great question,

      Ryan

    • Photo: Maggie Lieu

      Maggie Lieu answered on 8 Nov 2017:


      Titan has a tiny gravity (it’s like the gravity of the moon) so our bodies wouldn’t be very well adapted there. Our hearts would have to pump a lot harder just to get enough oxygen around our bodies.

      Its pretty cold there (about -179 degrees!), it’s dark (only 1% of the Sun’s light reaches that far) and theres no water, so we can forget about growing food.

      Also it takes about 7 years just to get there, so overall I don’t think it would be a very fun place to live.

    • Photo: Scott Melville

      Scott Melville answered on 14 Nov 2017:


      Titan’s a great suggest, but as Maggie has pointed out, it could use a little bit of redecoration. People have thought a lot about these things – and there’s a process called ‘Terra-Forming’, which is when you try to change what a landscape (or whole planet!) looks like. For example, if you plant lots of trees somehow on the Moon, you might be able to create a little atmosphere, and make the air breathable 🙂 I think that’s the most exciting possibility for living off-Earth! (then you wouldn’t need a space suit or anything, it would be super safe!)

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