As the most Earth-like satellite in the solar system, Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has long fascinated science fiction authors with the tantalising possibility of extra-terrestrial life. Now, a team of chemical engineers and astronomers has modelled a possible type of life that could survive and reproduce on the moon’s surface. The researchers from Cornell University created a template based on methane, which is abundant in Titan’s atmosphere and also thought to be present in liquid form in large seas. A theorised cell membrane, composed of small organic nitrogen compounds and capable of functioning in liquid methane temperatures of -180 °C, was described in a paper published in Science Advances.
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