Hydrocarbon Lakes and Rivers
One of Titan’s most curious features is its collection of lakes and rivers filled with liquid hydrocarbons such as ethane and methane.
Such compounds are found in natural gas on Earth, but Titan receives little more than 1 percent of the solar intensity received by Earth. As a result, surface temperatures hover around -291 degrees Fahrenheit and cause the compounds to condense into liquid.
In 2016, with NASA’s pending approval, Lorenz and others hope to launch a nuclear-powered robotic boat called Titan Mare Explorer, or TiME (right), to the Sea of Ligeia (above).
To help select the best splashdown point in that Lake Superior-sized body of liquid hydrocarbons, Lorenz and two other researchers led a study to model its depths, tides and and currents (below).
Images: 1) NASA/JPL 2) NASA/JPL 3) Simulated depth in meters, left, and currents, right, in the Ligeia Mare situated near Titan’s north pole. (Planetary and Space Science/NASA)