Titan May Improve Origin Of Life Equation
NASA's Huygens probe will enter the atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan, to perform experiments that may help Origin Of Life ("OOL") investigators. OOL science provides attractive though so-far incomplete questions about and answers to the building blocks of cell life.
Winter Park, CO (PRWEB) January 6, 2005 -- What if Saturn’s moon, Titan, had
the same orbit as Earth? Or what if Titan were 200° C warmer?
The
European Space Agency’s Huygens probe, the scientific equipment laden spacecraft
that separated from NASA’s Cassini Saturn orbiter on December 24 and is set to
enter Titan’s atmosphere January 14, will take measurements of Titan's
atmosphere as it descends to Titan’s surface. The atmosphere is rich in nitrogen
and contains methane and ethane – two carbon-based gases present on early Earth.
Ultraviolet sunlight can break down methane and ethane into organic compounds,
which, when combined with other factors, form the building blocks of
life.
Prof. Aristotel Pappelis1 and Dr. Peter Bahn2 await the data from
Huygens. They have been performing Origin Of Life (“OOL”) experiments, seeking
OOL answers for twenty plus years. Are the essential elements present on Titan
to duplicate the famous Miller experiment, the “primordial soup”, from which
amino acids arise and theoretically can self-order into branched proteins and
proto-cells? The Huygens data will help to find answers.
Mark Rudis3,
project manager for OOL commercialization, states numerous barriers must be
overcome before identifiable compounds can be put in a jar, zapped with an
energy source, and out comes a cell. But the science is in place to contemplate
such a result.
1 Southern Illinois Univ., Prof. Emeritus, Carbondale,
Illinois
2 Bahn Biotechnology Co., Mt. Vernon, Illinois
3 Attorney for OOL
Group, Winter Park, Colorado
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/1/prweb193715.htm