The Huygens Probe - Is There Life on Titan?
Titan is among the elite few celestial bodies in the consideration of life beyond Earth (along with Mars and Jupiter’s moon Europa). Titan is too cold, average surface temperature is 93K, to support complex forms of life but it is possible that primitive bacteria could exist.
One factor that makes Titan a suitable environment for primitive life is it’s the only moon possessing a significant atmosphere. Titan’s atmosphere is predominately nitrogen, similar to Earth’s atmosphere, but instead of oxygen Titan has argon, ethane, and methane. When sunlight travels through such an atmosphere several chemicals are created (including hydrogen cyanide which is believed to have gotten life started on Earth). Titan’s chemistry is very similar to what scientists believe early Earth was like.
In order for life to be created liquid is necessary so that molecules can interact and become more complex chains of molecules (potentially leading to DNA and then life). Titan is too cold for liquid water, but the air pressure and temperature allows methane and ethane to exist in liquid form. Liquid methane would be the most suitable medium for creating life but scientists believe that conditions aren’t quite right for surface liquid methane. However, liquid ethane with dissolved bits of methane is likely to exist and thus stands the greatest chance of being the medium for the creation of life.
Further study of Titan and the possible primitive life may very well show how life began on Earth, which would in turn help answer scientific mysteries about the evolution of life on Earth.