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[XiaNaphryz]

As an example of methane-based life on Earth:

http://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/xtremelife/life_on_earth.php

In 1997, ice worms were discovered living on the surface of methane hydrate, their principle source of food being methane eating bacteria.

Other organisms have also been found subsisting on the methane including mussels, clams and 100 year old tubeworms. The mussels and clams have developed a symbiotic relationship with methane eating bacteria. Without these bacteria to metabolize energy for them, the mussels and clams would not survive.

Mmmmm, ice worms.

 

[FairyD]

We'll go there sooner or later. Not in my lifetime, but in someone's lifetime.

 

[bubnbob]

We'll go there sooner or later. Not in my lifetime, but in someone's lifetime.

Gee, congrats to them. Tell them I said hi

 

[SystemShock2]

Shouldn't there already be life? like palm trees, coconuts, etc

 

[Ponn]

Gee, congrats to them. Tell them I said hi

Unfortunately our generations are still stuck killing each other over religion, lining the top 1% of the populations pocket with wealth and bickering over what political candidates ordered for lunch and birth certificates. You know, important stuff.

Sense of exploration and discovery has been taken over by apathy and iPhones. People can't be bothered beyond their facebook update.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

As an example of methane-based life on Earth:

http://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/xtremelife/life_on_earth.php

Mmmmm, ice worms.

Well, that's fucking terrifying. Imagine landing on Titan and there's some fucked up ice worm attacking you.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Well, that's fucking terrifying. Imagine landing on Titan and there's some fucked up ice worm attacking you.

More likely than not, they'd be too small to see at least.

 

[ErasureAcer]

Vincent Freeman's mission was a success.

 

[speedpop]

More likely than not, they'd be too small to see at least.

They'll invade through our anuses! It's time to destroy Titan!

 

[qcf x2]

Pretty cool, though not surprising. I wish they could get a damn camera down there already. I wanna see what the surface, methane lakes and methane rain look like.

Oh, and how would they handle recovery of the probe? How does it blast off if it's in a lake, particularly when methane is flammable?

Edit: and there's always the potential for bringing back something more devastating than viruses, lol.

 

[Oppo]

Not any planet, no. (Plus we're talking about a moon here).

This is another case of that comic strip with the scientist vs. the shitty sensationalist journalist.

You're splitting hairs. We would apply the same terms like equater and tropics to other planetary bodies; there isn't a special non-Earth term that I'm aware of.

 

[kittens]

Awesome.

 

[Brera]

Why the fuck would anyone want to go to Titan or even meet an alien from Titan.

The place is gonna stink like supershit and the aliens will stink worse than your mums skidmarks.

Let's invest our time and money on other parts of the universe please!

 

[XMonkey]

Oh, and how would they handle recovery of the probe? How does it blast off if it's in a lake, particularly when methane is flammable?

Edit: and there's always the potential for bringing back something more devastating than viruses, lol.

I don't think a probe would be coming back (most, or all?, of them don't...). We don't get any of the Mars ones back and that's a far easier proposition than something on Titan.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

That's Segata Sanshiro's secret hideaway

But they told me he was dead! I can't believe it!

Cool loch, Titan.

 

[Mordeccai]

Of couse we could, but what would we possibly gain from it?

Everything? Who knows man. Penicillin, one of the most important discoveries in all of mankind, was found by accident. So was rubber.

Point being, we have no idea whats even out there, and what could help us or not. Major discoveries and technologies have come into being on accident or by random process, this is why the lack of space exploration irritates me. We can't possibly know whats 'useful' out there until we get out and look.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

Very cool news indeed.

 

[RoadHazard]

This is very cool, but also saddening. I hate living in the oh-so-primitive present. Just imagine what humanity will know and be capable of in a few hundred years, or in a thousand years (unless we've wiped ourselves out by then). Damn, how I'd love to see that. It feels like we're on the brink of so much cool stuff, but we were just born a bit too early to get to experience it (of course, that will probably always be the case, for any future generation, but still).