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Talks at Google

Ep383 - Nathalie Cabrol | Exploring the Seas of Titan

Sep 22, 2023
Dr. Nathalie Cabrol discusses the science and technology of exploring Saturn’s moon, Titan, including its atmosphere and presumed seas filled with methane. They highlight the need for exploration systems and robots that can accumulate knowledge about their environment and make on-site observations. The podcast explores the possibilities of an ocean and life on Titan, challenges and limitations of exploring alien seas, and the biodiversity and transparency of lakes on Titan. It also discusses the potential for future missions with rovers and aircraft on Titan.
01:12:35

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Quick takeaways

  • Future exploration of Saturn's moon Titan requires the development of robots capable of accumulating knowledge about their environment and making observations on-site.
  • Titan's atmosphere, composed of nitrogen and methane, closely resembles Earth's, and its lakes filled with methane and ethane indicate a meteorological cycle similar to Earth's hydrological cycle.

Deep dives

Exploring Saturn's Moon, Titan

Natalie Cabral discusses the science and technology of exploring Saturn's moon, Titan. Titan is the largest moon in the Saturn system and has an atmosphere. It is presumed to have seas filled with methane and hydrocarbons. Future exploration of Titan requires the development of robots that can accumulate knowledge about their environment, understand mission priorities, and make observations on-site. Dr. Cabral's project, the Planetary Lake Lander (PLL), aims to develop and test technology relevant for exploring alien seas on Titan. The PLL team studies the impact of melting ice on the habitability of lakes in the Andes as an analog for understanding processes on Titan.

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