TORONTO – There are many places in our solar system that are great candidates for life, and now scientists have calculated that Saturn’s moon Titan may be yet another.
When scientists say that they’re looking for life out in our solar system, they are typically looking for life that originates from water. That’s because life as we know it requires water (for the most part). But what about life as we don’t know it?
READ MORE: 16×9: The search for life on other planets
Titan, the largest moon around Saturn, has been considered to be very much like Earth: It has weather patterns, including rain, and large lakes. But its rain isn’t the water kind — it’s methane. And there is debate over whether or not life could flourish in such an environment.
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In a recent paper that appeared in the journal Scientific Advances, researchers from Cornell University built a model of a cell membrane that doesn’t need oxygen to survive.
Not only that, but the theorized membrane — called an azotosome which is made up of nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen — has the ability to function in temperatures that exist in liquid methane, close to absolute zero or -273 C.
While it’s just a theory, it may help astrobiologists in the future search for life that doesn’t necessarily rely on water to develop.
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