'Homegrown' Alien Life Could Live On Saturn's Moon, Titan

At first glance, Saturn’s moon Titan doesn’t look that different from some of the wilder parts of Earth — there are mountains, lakes, storms, islands, maybe even flowing rivers. But look closer to find that Titan is actually freezing and its lakes are composed of methane and other hydrocarbons and it goes without saying that this harsh world isn’t likely to support life, at least not life as we know it.

But what about life unlike what we’re used to on the third rock from the sun? A team of Cornell University researchers decided to combine both science and a little bit of imagination to conceive of what sort of alien life might be able to survive, or even thrive on Titan.  The work is published in the latest issue of Science Advances. 

The team theorized that Titan might be able to harbor methane-based, oxygen-free cells. They conceived a cell membrane made up of nitrogen compounds capable of functioning in liquid methane at temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero. Given this much lower freezing point for cells based on methane rather than water, if life based on such a cell were possible, it would greatly expand the zone of potential habitability around a star that scientists generally consider the most likely to harbor life on other worlds.

A representation of a 9-nanometer azotosome, about the size of a virus, with a piece of the membrane cut away to show the hollow interior. (Credit: James Stevenson)

Surprisingly, the researchers found that their methane cell with a nitrogen-based membrane — which they dubbed an “azotosome” based on the French word for nitrogen, azote – showed the same stability and flexibility as a liposome, the corresponding water-based membrane found in organic cells on Earth.

The next step for these homegrown “alien” cells would be to see how they might function in a methane-based environment.

Study co-author Jonathan Lunine of Cornell says he dreams of “someday sending a probe to float on the seas of this amazing moon (Titan) and directly sampling the organics.”

As it turns out, NASA is already working on just such a mission, as outlined in the video below.

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