ICES ON TITAN: LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS THAT COMPLEMENT THE HUYGENS PROBE
This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The composition of the cold bodies in the outer solar system may hold some of the key molecular clues concerning the composition of the prestellax molecular cloud that gave rise to the solar system. We studied the physical chemistry and heterogeneous (gas/surface) reactivity of extraterrestrial ice analogs of the surfaces of Saturn's moon Titan. This program coupled our surface spectroscopic techniques with physical adsorption measurements. We addressed several of the pressing questions regarding Titan such as: Is storage of hydrocarbons in Titan's water ice crust feasible? Do heterogeneous processes influence the atmospheric chemical composition of Titan? Are phase transitions to be expected? These data can be incorporated into photochemical models with the goal of improved modeling of the chemical composition and meteorology of Titan's atmosphere. Titan will be probed by the Cassini-Huygens Mission. Our results on Titan ice analogs can be used to help interpret the mission data.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 768737
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-00-3987
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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