What is Titan? Titan is a moon of Saturns' that was discovered in the year 1655 by some feller' named Christiaan Huygens. It is a very special place. Im sure that you have heard people speak of planets and moons that could one day be suitable for human life. They all have theyre' merits but they cant hold a candle to Titan (Hmmm....a candle on Titan!) Titan is a Starfleet chemist dream.....Kirks' son would probably be knocked out at the prospect in terraforming on Titan. Titan is so much an "Almost Earth". Titan is rich in Nitogen and argon and methane and also has has water in addition to other organic compounds. What makes this (Titan) a very special place is the temperature is quite cold about 290 degrees below zero and with all those organic compounds it can quite easily be seen that a change in Titans' temperature would create quite the chemical mess. A candle on Titan...indeed!
But enough Star Trek. Our fine American space agency (NASA) and the ESA has sent a probe to Titan. The probe is called Cassini and it has traveled to Saturn and will soon go on to Titan to release another probe called............Huygens probe in honor of that great guy whatshisname who discovered Titan for man. The Huygens probe should land on Titan Jan 15,2005. The data this probe could collect would a shocker for the scientific community if the probe can stand the weird surface of titan.
1) Titans' surface is supposedly 290 degrees below zero. Anyone with (cs)common sense knows organic chemicals cant react at those temperatures unless Titan has a warmer surface than we think or underneath titans surface is a much warmer climate than the surface(cs).
2) And that speaks volumes right there. Warmer below the surface....Organic compounds. If any other planet in this Solar System besides our own has life it has to be Titan.
3) Just what is the chemical composition of Titans' atmosphere. Is is possible to heat the atmosphere and burn of the methane to create water? These are questions for future nerds but right now Titans' sure got this nerd!
Here are some great links about Titan and Cassini/Huygens.
N.A.S.A site for the Cassini-Huygens probe to Saturn and Titan
The Nine Planets Organization
A nice picture of Titan