Life on Titan?

Titan is a rather well known moon of Saturn. The Cassini mission undertaken by NASA has sent us some beautiful pictures of both the planet and the moon. These have aided the NASA scientists in studying them in more detail. Titan is the only other celestial body in our solar system which has stable bodies of liquid on its surface.

Currently the blocks of hydrocarbon ice found floating in the seas and lakes of Titan have excited the scientists who believe that some form of exotic life in a primitive state may have developed in these blocks. Much like how the early algae was formed on Earth giving life as we know it on our planet a start.

Naturally the kind of life that develops in a cycle which involves ethane and methane rather than water, like on Earth, is likely to be different. In fact till now scientists had assumed that there was no floating ice on Titan as solid methane is denser than liquid methane and would end up sinking.

Since there is evidence to show that the ice made of hydrocarbons is floating on the liquid surfaces on Titan perhaps it is not too difficult a leap of the imagination to think that life of a primitive nature is also embedded in those ice cubes. Only more scientific study will reveal the truth.