Overview
- NASA laboratory experiments at roughly 90 K used laser spectroscopy to show methane and ethane become incorporated into solid hydrogen cyanide without changing the molecules themselves, indicating new co-crystals.
- Chalmers University simulations screened thousands of configurations and reproduced the spectral signatures, supporting stable HCN–hydrocarbon co-crystals at Titan-like temperatures.
- The result challenges the usual “like dissolves like” expectation by showing a polar compound can host nonpolar hydrocarbons inside a crystal lattice under extreme cold.
- The research, conducted by teams at NASA and Chalmers, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2025.
- Scientists say these structures could shape Titan’s surface chemistry and prebiotic pathways, and NASA’s Dragonfly—planned for a July 2028 launch with arrival about six years later—may test for them in situ.