A Boat to Sail the Methane Lakes of Titan
A geologist seeks NASA funding to float a probe on Saturn's moon The idea of extraterrestrial boating comes from planetary geologist (and sailing enthusiast) Ellen Stofan, who points out that one of Saturn's moons, Titan, is covered with lakes, and in fact is one of only two places in our solar system known to have surface liquid (the other being Earth, of course). So why not launch a floating probe? After all, to date all extraterrestrial endeavors have involved either flight or land navigation, so perhaps it's time to switch it up a little. Titan's lakes, by the way, aren't your usual bodies of water -- instead, they're filled with liquid methane and ethane. Whereas we earthlings are used to seeing methane as a gas, anyone on Titan will tell you that their planet's low temperatures (around -290 degrees Fahrenheit) allow methane to exist only in fluid...