[Interview+] Titan Is Much Stranger Than You Think
Titan is the only known world except Earth that has liquid on its surface and a dense atmosphere. We are planning to send a nuclear helicopter called Dragonfly to explore it. What can we expect from Titan? Finding out in this interview.
🟣 Guest: Dr. Sam Birch https://geomorph-sbirch.com/
Watch the video here (with no ads) or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jxPsu0zHrd8
Comments (14)
this is a fascinating interview, the description of a rainstorm and river on Titan makes me think this would make a great animation by a professional games animator with an accurate simulation. This would be a useful visualisation to add to these or other videos. Thanks for doing this interview.
Awesome interview. So cool…
Hello how is your crypto life going?
Yes! More Titan!!!
Ok you’re right. Titan sounds pretty rad.
Anytime someone is talking Titan and Mt Doom in the same interview, sign me up! Fraser is a fav for me, Titan is a fav for me and now so is Sam. Really really liked this interview.
I’m a member of The Planetary Society and The Tolkien Society, so Titan is a perfect fit! Great interview. PS I’m also a John Varley fan from way back. ;)
I really enjoyed this interview. One of the best for a while. Would any methane precipitation be likely to damage Dragonfly though if there were to be any at the equator? Also, How long is the Dragonfly mission set to last and is this to be determined by its power source? And...is it conceivable that it could fly over time all the way to one of the poles to see these methane lakes? So many questions! :-)
Imagine aliens that routinely melt rock when they want a passage and then re-solidify it behind them after they have passed. Inside their space-suits it's the temperature of lava
Wow what a cool interview.
When you talk about ice as rocks, it struck me that I was thinking of ice as formed on Earth, which includes lots of gases in the ice. Would the ice/rock on Titan be similar, or would there be no gases in the ice/rock - or methane infused in the ice/rock? If there were no gases encapsulated in the ice/rock it would probably be far more dense than what we think of when thinking of ice on earth.
Sounds like the ideal place to refuel Starship or it's successors. Water and methane in abundance, just lying around to be used.
So why does Titan have a thick nitrogen atmosphere? Where did it come from?
Loving this stuff, thank you!