No shit! If Titan has an atmosphere that supports burning them, it could be a good choice for colonization. posted by Electrius at 8:14 PM on February 13, 2008
Awesome! Now we've got a good excuse to invade and exterminate any life we find there! posted by contraption at 8:28 PM on February 13, 2008
Well, all we need to do is hand out some no-bid contracts to Haliburton, who I'm sure would quote the government a fair price, and they'll have the stuff here in no time! So long, peak oil! posted by The Card Cheat at 8:28 PM on February 13, 2008
Seems like there's a slight problem to overcome, in terms of transportation...
I seem to remember reading that Europa has an atmosphere that contains oxygen, although I don't know at what concentration. (Wikipedia says that "At equivalent pressure to Earth's atmosphere at sea level, Europa's oxygen would 'fill only about a dozen Houston Astrodomes'" so maybe that's not such a good option.) I wonder if you could get a positive net energy gain by electrolytically separating saltwater, hypothesized to be on Europa also, and then reacting the liberated oxygen with hydrocarbons from elsewhere.
Methane and other hydrocarbons seem like they're not all that rare in our solar system, anyway; the amount of oxygen to react it with may well be the limiting reagent for powering interplanetary missions. posted by Kadin2048 at 8:28 PM on February 13, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]
Awesome! Now we've got a good excuse to invade and exterminate any life we find there!
You mean we will go evacuate them to heaven? Democracy rolls on! posted by Mr_Zero at 8:36 PM on February 13, 2008
Great... now more idiots will say "Environmentalism is daft, we'll all (being, of course, the richest 'all' of us) colonise space.
And they'll only be a few orders of magnitude away from feasibility.... posted by pompomtom at 8:36 PM on February 13, 2008
At last, we've found the Sirens of Titan. posted by Eekacat at 8:39 PM on February 13, 2008
1. Mine thousands of tons of hydrocarbons from Titan.
2. Send it all to Mars.
3. Burn it.
4. Global Warming is a good thing! (For some other value of "globe.") posted by thecaddy at 8:43 PM on February 13, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]
I have also heard that there is a gigantic fusion generator somewhere nearby that's continuously supplying the solar system with free wireless energy. Maybe we should look into that. posted by Pyry at 8:44 PM on February 13, 2008 [33 favorites has favorites]
Sounds like it's time for some regime change on Saturn. I hear they've got WMDs and helped plan 9/11! posted by Afroblanco at 8:46 PM on February 13, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]
Pyrywrites"I have also heard that there is a gigantic fusion generator somewhere nearby that's continuously supplying the solar system with free wireless energy. Maybe we should look into that."
Also, we're all sitting on a gigantic ball of molten metal! posted by mullingitover at 8:55 PM on February 13, 2008
Pyrywrites"I have also heard that there is a gigantic fusion generator somewhere nearby that's continuously supplying the solar system with free wireless energy. Maybe we should look into that."
Electrius:No shit! If Titan has an atmosphere that supports burning them, it could be a good choice for colonization.
If Titan had an atmosphere that supported burning them, they'd have been set on fire aeons ago by some random meteor. Good try, though.
It turns out that the Earth's oxidizing atmosphere is actually a real rarity - it is actually biogenic, and biologically maintained. Without life to sustain it, Earth would have an atmosphere that was slightly to moderately reducing. It turns out that molecular oxygen is quite unstable (lots of stuff including many rocks oxidize) and is thus more of a rarity in space than free hydrocarbons. posted by Mitrovarr at 9:19 PM on February 13, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]
Good grief.
Once you humans hear "hydrocarbon" the first bloody thing you think of is burning them.
Extraterrestrial hydrocarbons = raw material for cell membranes, a way to allow a little bypass of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, leading to the potentiality of "life" (as we currently know it), nevermind CHON food.
hmm, so does the definition of life = an unexpected convergence of anti-2nd law order, allowing for replication, and so on and so forth? If so, what's the arbitrary minimum amount of cohesion? posted by porpoise at 9:24 PM on February 13, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]
porpoise:Extraterrestrial hydrocarbons = raw material for cell membranes, a way to allow a little bypass of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, leading to the potentiality of "life" (as we currently know it),
Well, let's get one thing straight - life does not bypass the second law of thermodynamics. The ultimate source of the entropy created that allows you to exist is inside the core of the sun, so it is easy to miss. In fact, you rely on the second law of thermodynamics to exist - on a very fundamental level, you are an entropy machine. posted by Mitrovarr at 9:54 PM on February 13, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]
"In fact, you rely on the second law of thermodynamics to exist - on a very fundamental level, you are an entropy machine."
goddamn! i'm getting me a hummer and a shitload of lights for next xmas right now! yeah! wait til those ay-rabs find out that we don't need their fucking oil no more! posted by pyramid termite at 10:08 PM on February 13, 2008
the rent's really low, but it's hell trying to find a decent expresso or a good cell-phone signal there posted by pyramid termite at 10:35 PM on February 13, 2008
sweet, nourishing hydrocarbons. posted by MillMan at 11:15 PM on February 13, 2008
Hmm... If we send all the industrialists off to Europa, maybe our planet will become habitable again by the time they asphyxiate. posted by kaibutsu at 11:26 PM on February 13, 2008
Yay. Now bring me more squarepig. posted by loquacious at 12:03 AM on February 14, 2008
Chevron will get there, and what's the bet there will be either a peaceful race of aliens minding their own business, or an religious tribe of fundamentals. posted by mattoxic at 3:07 AM on February 14, 2008
or, even better tribe of religious fundamentalists. posted by mattoxic at 3:08 AM on February 14, 2008
Once you humans hear "hydrocarbon" the first bloody thing you think of is burning them.
Embrace your fire lust - - Burn 'em!!! posted by fairmettle at 3:14 AM on February 14, 2008
Once you humans hear "hydrocarbon" the first bloody thing you think of is burning them.
The Hydrocarbon Mapping Project is a Google Maps mashup with refinery and well locations..... posted by mattoxic at 3:20 AM on February 14, 2008
Mitrovarr, the correlation of oxygen with life isn't particularly amazing, as oxygen itself is not conducive to the spontaneous generation of life, as you said it's quite oxidizing. It's much more likely for life to occur in an anaerobic or near-anaerobic (like say, Europa) atmosphere, and then generate the oxygen which more complex life forms are later dependent on, itself. So our oxygen-rich atmosphere may be a rarity, but it's certainly not a coincidence. posted by mek at 4:37 AM on February 14, 2008
And yet the abiotic theory for the origin of oil on Earth is apparently a load of tosh.
There's a truth for Earth and a truth for Titan, Hank. Just like how Jerry Lewis is a loudmouthed old hack in America, but in France he's a GENIUS! posted by briank at 6:40 AM on February 14, 2008
Has Exxon Mobil has started negotiations to buy NASA yet? Sounds like a great way for them to use their record profits. posted by aught at 7:17 AM on February 14, 2008
Once you humans hear "hydrocarbon" the first bloody thing you think of is burning them.
Damn right, once those hydrocarbons become sentient, you just know they are coming for us. If the movies have taught me anything, we need to make a first strike before we are all eaten or infected by alien goo. posted by quin at 11:11 AM on February 14, 2008
And sometimes that sentient lake runs the motherfucking Dominion. posted by Greg Nog at 11:22 AM on February 14, 2008
Breaking news - the Bush administration has it on good authority that Mighty Lord Brgleflatz, Ruler of All Saturn, has attempted to obtain yellowcake from Charon with the intent of developing Interplanetary Death Rays of Vogon Poetry and Mass Destruction (IDRVPMD). Also, his regime has close links to Xenu of the Galactic Confederation. Let's roll! posted by DecemberBoy at 12:29 PM on February 14, 2008
Good thing all this oil isn't on Europa.
We're not allowed to go there. posted by Fupped Duck at 3:23 PM on February 14, 2008
*cough*
We've done that one. posted by Artw at 3:25 PM on February 14, 2008
What does this discovery suggest about the biological or non-biologcal origin of petroluem in the earth's crust? posted by Faze at 5:57 PM on February 14, 2008
What does this discovery suggest about the biological or non-biologcal origin of petroluem in the earth's crust? posted by Faze at 5:59 PM on February 14, 2008
What does this discovery suggest about the biological or non-biologcal origin of petroluem in the earth's crust?
Not a lot. Earth has complex crude oils of biological origin. Titan has simple abiotic methane and is so cold that much of that methane is in liquid form.
Methane can be produced by both biological processes, such as anaerobic decay of biomass, and by abiotic chemical reactions. Presumably Earth is the former, Titan the later. posted by -harlequin- at 7:14 PM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]
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