Titan Could Harbor Slushy Tunnels of Alien Life as NASA Finds Shocking Twists in the Search for Life
Saturn's largest moon could be home to "slushy tunnels" hosting alien life, a new report suggests. Titan has long been of interest to the space agency, who believe it could be a place alien life could realistically be. In 2008 NASA's Cassini spacecraft gathered data suggesting it may host an ocean beneath its frozen crust. But new analysis suggests it instead has "slushy tunnels and pockets of meltwater" in a new report that looked at water on faraway planets. According to LiveScience, scientists believe the possibility would enhance their quest to find alien life given water is a key ingredient for life. The study's co-author, Baptiste Journaux, of the University of Washington, said: "Instead of an open ocean like we have here on Earth, we're probably looking at something more like Arctic sea ice or aquifers, which has implications for what type of life we might find, (and) also the availability of nutrients, energy and so on."
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Cassini finds Titan interior may differ from earlier analyses
Flavio Petricca, a fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement: "That was the smoking gun indicating that Titan's interior is different from what was inferred from previous analyses." Cassini was launched in 1997 and has spent most of its 20 years observing Saturn and its moons. It spotted the shape of Titan "stretching and smushing" as it circled Saturn, the study's authors add.
MAVEN and 3I/ATLAS: NASA probes in a swirl of mystery and online theories
Yesterday, it was reported that NASA lost contact with a Mars space probe following a close encounter with 3I/ATLAS, the space agency has confirmed. On Monday NASA said the MAVEN spacecraft went dark on December 4 while it was observing the mysterious object. Despite a frenzy of theories that it could be an alien spaceship, it was later confirmed to be a comet. MAVEN has been orbiting Mars since 2014 and has been a communications relay from man-made rovers exploring the Red Planet. But it moved behind Mars while tracking 3I/ATLAS and suddenly stopped transmitting, reports the Daily Mail. It then started to rotate in an unusual manner before reemerging within view of Earth. NASA adds that whatever happened to MAVEN has also caused its orbit around Mars to change as well.
Public reaction and ongoing investigation into MAVEN’s fate
Scientists have now begun to analyse fragments of tracking information to pinpoint where it has gone wrong. The internet has been quick to draw up theories about what has happened. One user on X, with no proof, said: "Either NASA is lying, and won't release the images because they know what it is, or whatever is piloting 3I/ATLAS knocked MAVEN offline. Either way, NASA is lying."
