Titan has deep canyons flowing with liquid methane

[Dryson]

http://www.space.com/33704-saturn-moon-titan-deep-canyons-video.html

Titan has a lot of methane and has a nitrogen atmosphere. I did some searching and found this little bacteria that would thrive on Titan very well and would produce its own oxygen.

Oxygen when produced in large quantities could be consumed by a life form that would then break down the bacteria within the body so the oxygen could be used similar to how humans use oxygen.

Instead of breathing in oxygen like humans do the life would breathe in the bacteria and break it down using the oxygen that bacteria creates for itself while digesting the bacteria as a source of food to create energy for work from.

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100324/full/news.2010.146.http

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Get back to us when you've solved that tiny little -179 degree problem. Earth bacteria, being mostly water, aren't going to like that.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

We could get them some tiny parkas.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Imagine the satisfaction of throwing an Ewok into a lake of liquid farts.

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[Asbo Zaprudder]

We could get them some tiny parkas.

That's assuming they're mods. If they're rockers, they'll want leather jackets.

 

[Metryq]

Everybody's going to the Amoeba Hop

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[locutus101]

Get back to us when you've solved that tiny little -179 degree problem. Earth bacteria, being mostly water, aren't going to like that.

You're not counting the hothouse effect.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

You're not counting the hothouse effect.

Are you talking about the greenhouse effect? Either way, how does it apply here?

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Are you talking about the greenhouse effect? Either way, how does it apply here?

It doesn't, because they can't survive long enough to BEGIN the greenhouse effect.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It doesn't, because they can't survive long enough to BEGIN the greenhouse effect.

I agree, but I just thought I'd give the poster a chance to explain himself.

 

[locutus101]

It doesn't, because they can't survive long enough to BEGIN the greenhouse effect.

Methane is an important contributor to the greenhouse effect.

 

[sojourner]

Methane is an important contributor to the greenhouse effect.

Not when it's liquid.

 

[locutus101]

Not when it's liquid.

You can't have the liquid phase without the gaseous phase being present as well. It's a well known scientific fact.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Yeah, so the point is that the hothouse effect [sic] isn't relevant here.

 

[locutus101]

Yeah, so the point is that the hothouse effect [sic] isn't relevant here.

I am sorry, I made a typo. You CAN'T have the liquid phase without the gaseous phase. That means that if there is liquid methane, there is also a layer of gas over it. Hence the aforementioned greenhouse effect. I thought you people knew that.

 

[sojourner]

I am sorry, I made a typo. You CAN'T have the liquid phase without the gaseous phase. That means that if there is liquid methane, there is also a layer of gas over it. Hence the aforementioned greenhouse effect. I thought you people knew that.

It doesn't seem to be doing much in this case, given the -179 temperature.

 

[locutus101]

It doesn't seem to be doing much in this case, given the -179 temperature.

I don't believe we can get an accurate temperature without sending a probe down there.

 

[sojourner]

Well, we know the temperature required for liquid methane. We know titan has lakes of liquid methane. We can extrapolate from that pretty well that it's too cold for any form of (known) earth life to exist there.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I don't believe we can get an accurate temperature without sending a probe down there.

If you think that the accepted figure is so inaccurate as to sustain liquid water, then there's not much else to say. Except, maybe:

A brief glance at this Wiki on terraforming Titan makes the claim that gaseous methane on Titan would have the problem of escaping into space due to the weak gravity. I'm not commenting on whether that's true or false; for one thing, they also postulate giant mirrors needed to raise Titan's temperature and the rate of the escape of methane into space should depend on that too, whatever it is. But, clearly, this isn't quite so simple, and it's especially not so simple if your plan depends on facts not in evidence (such as appropriate surface temperature).

 

[B.J.]

I don't believe we can get an accurate temperature without sending a probe down there.

How do think we got the -179C temperature figure anyway?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huygens_(spacecraft)

The temperature at the landing site was 93.8 K (-179.35 °C) and pressure of 1467.6 mbar (1.448 atm), implying a methane abundance of 5 ± 1% and methane relative humidity of 50% near the surface.​