Search Publications
A Coupled Model of Titan's Atmosphere and Ionosphere
Lara, L. M.; Rodrigo, R.; López-Moreno, J. J. +2 more
The paper deals with a coupled model of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Titan. The neutral atmosphere is described by a comprehensive photochemical model for 30° solar zenith angle with molecular and turbulent diffusive transport taken into account. At the upper boundary (1430 km) escaping flux of light molecules is included in boundary con…
Exobiological Implications of a Possible Ammonia-Water Ocean inside Titan
Fortes, A. D.
Models of Titan's thermal history indicate that an ocean consisting of an ammonia-water solution, as much as 200 km deep, is presently concealed beneath a crust of water ice. Conditions within this hypothetical ocean are discussed here and compared with conditions in terrestrial biomes. These conditions, while extreme by terrestrial standards, are…
Nitrogen isotope fractionation and its consequence for Titan's atmospheric evolution
Lammer, H.; Owen, T.; Molina-Cuberos, G. J. +2 more
The first determination of the 15N/ 14N ratio in Titan's atmosphere comes from Earth-based millimetric wavelength spectroscopic observations of HC 15N/HC 14N. These measurements indicate that the bulk nitrogen is enriched in the heavy isotope 15N by about 4.5 times relative to the Earth value.…
Laboratory investigation on the formation of unsaturated nitriles in Titan's atmosphere
Kaiser, R. I.; Balucani, N.; Asvany, O. +3 more
Crossed molecular beam experiments of ground state cyano radicals, CN(X 2Σ +), with hydrocarbons acetylene (C 2H 2), ethylene (C 2H 4), methylacetylene (CH 3CCH), allene (H 2CCCH 2), dimethylacetylene (CH 3CCCH 3), and benzene (…
Wind-driven surface waves on Titan
Ghafoor, Nadeem A. -L.; Zarnecki, John C.; Challenor, Peter +1 more
The surface of Titan represents the largest surface area in the solar system essentially unexplored, although recent observations from Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes using adaptive optics have given perhaps the first low-resolution indications of its nature. Whilst early models citing global oceans have been all but abandoned, …
Influence of electrophilic species on the lower ionosphere of Titan
Rodrigo, R.; López-Moreno, J. J.; Molina-Cuberos, G. J.
The galactic cosmic rays induced ionosphere of Titan is studied from 0 to 70 km. We resent here a new model developed for calculating the concentration of cations, anions, and electrons depending on the mixing ratio of electrophilic species present in the atmosphere of Titan. The existence of neutral species in which electrons can be attached by t…
Surface and Sub-surface Electrical Measurement of Titan with the PWA-HASI Experiment on Huygens
Rodrigo, R.; López-Moreno, J. J.; Fulchignoni, M. +11 more
The Permittivity Waves and Altimetry (PWA) experiment is part of the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI) presently `en route' toTitan as a part of the HUYGENS Probe carried by the Saturn orbiter CASSINI. When HUYGENS lands upon Titan, the Mutual Impedance (MI) probe, part of the PWA experiment will be set to a special mode to measure t…