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New Study Recasts Titan’s Interior, Challenging Idea of a Global Ocean

Reprocessed Cassini flyby signals reveal a 15-hour tidal delay that points to a viscous interior with isolated liquid pockets.

ARCHIVO – En la imagen, tomada por la nave espacial Cassini y proporcionada por la NASA el 12 de marzo de 2006, aparecen dos de las lunas de Saturno, la pequeña Epimeteo y Titán, envuelta en neblina, con los anillos A y F de Saturno extendiéndose por el marco. (NASA vía AP)
Hallazgo en Titán amplía posibilidades de vida fuera de la Tierra
Image
Esta concepción artística representa a la sonda Cassini de la NASA realizando uno de sus numerosos sobrevuelos cercanos a Titán, la luna más grande de Saturno. (Foto: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Overview

  • Titan’s deformation timing reported in Nature suggests layered ice and slush rather than a continuous subsurface ocean.
  • The JPL-led team measured roughly a 15-hour phase lag between Saturn’s peak tidal forcing and the moon’s surface response.
  • Modeling indicates an outer ice shell of about 170 kilometers over deeper icy and semi-liquid layers extending beyond 550 kilometers.
  • Some isolated pockets could reach temperatures near 20°C and may concentrate salts and organic molecules, creating chemically rich niches of astrobiological interest.
  • Some researchers, including Luciano Iess, argue the evidence does not definitively rule out a global ocean, and NASA’s Dragonfly mission is expected to gather data to test these interpretations.